In silico drug repurposing in COVID-19. A network-based analysis

The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic is a worldwide public health emergency. Despite the beginning of a vaccination campaign, the search for new drugs to appropriately treat COVID-19 patients remains a priority. Drug repur-posing represents a faster and cheaper method than de novo drug discovery. In this study, we examined three different network-based approaches to identify potentially repurposable drugs to treat COVID-19. We analyzed transcriptomic data from whole blood cells of patients with COVID-19 and 21 other related conditions, as compared with those of healthy subjects. In addition to conventionally used drugs (e.g., anticoagulants, anti-histaminics, anti-TNFα antibodies, corticosteroids), unconventional candidate compounds, such as SCN5A in-hibitors and drugs active in the central nervous system, were identified. Clinical judgment and validation through clinical trials are always mandatory before use of the identified drugs in a clinical setting.