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Innovative Prophylactic and Therapeutics for the Treatment of Coronavirus Infection

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Dear Colleagues,

While COVID-19 is no longer a pandemic, a significant number of SARS-CoV-2 infections still occur around the world due to emerging viral variants. Massive vaccine campaigns initiated in early 2021 have saved millions of lives. More recently, antivirals have been used to therapeutically control SARS-CoV-2 infections. However, because viral variants are continuously emerging, including those with mutations that can escape immune responses induced by approved vaccines or the antiviral activity of antivirals, new prophylactic and/or therapeutic approaches are urgently needed to assure SARS-CoV-2 infection remains controlled. The concern that a new coronavirus could surface is ever present, and the development of new prophylactics/therapeutics is crucial to safeguard against potential future coronavirus pandemics. In this Special issue, we welcome submissions of original research, reviews, clinical trials, and opinion articles related to new prophylactic and therapeutic interventions for the treatment of SARS-CoV-2 and other coronavirus infections.

Prof. Dr. Luis Martinez-Sobrido
Prof. Dr. Jun-Gyu Park
Guest Editors

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10 pages, 850 KB

Open AccessArticle

Timing of Remdesivir Initiation and Clinical Outcomes in Hospitalized Patients with COVID-19 Who Are at High Risk of Disease Progression in Japan: A Health Insurance Claims Database Study

by Yuichiro Shindo, Yi Piao, Mark Berry, Heribert Ramroth and Manami Yoshida

Viruses 2026, 18(4), 479; https://doi.org/10.3390/v18040479 - 21 Apr 2026

Viewed by 316

Abstract

Early initiation of remdesivir (RDV) is recommended to improve COVID-19 outcomes, but real-world studies describing patterns of RDV use and related outcomes among Japanese COVID-19 patients at high-risk of severe outcomes or death are limited. This claims-based cohort study included 60,165 high-risk patients hospitalized with COVID-19 between October 2021 and June 2023 using the DeSC Healthcare claims database. Patients were categorized into early-RDV (within 2 days of hospital admission), late-RDV (between day 3 and day 7), and no-RDV groups based on RDV initiation timing. Descriptive analyses were performed according to RDV groups. Of the study patients, ≥85% were very elderly (≥75 years). Approximately 39% of patients received early RDV, 2% received late RDV, and 59% received no RDV. By day 28, the proportion of alive discharge for early-, late-, and no-RDV groups was 74.9%, 63.1%, and 71.8%, respectively. The mortality for early-, late-, and no-RDV groups was 7.7%, 8.8%, and 8.4%, respectively. Future hypothesis-driven studies with an appropriate adjustment for confounders are needed to formally evaluate the impact of RDV initiation timing on clinical outcomes in this high-risk, predominantly late-elderly population in Japan. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Innovative Prophylactic and Therapeutics for the Treatment of Coronavirus Infection)

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10 pages, 863 KB

Open AccessArticle

Destruction/Inactivation of SARS-CoV-2 Virus Using Ultrasound Excitation: A Preliminary Study

by Almunther Alhasawi, Fajer Alassaf and Alshimaa Hassan

Viruses 2026, 18(2), 152; https://doi.org/10.3390/v18020152 - 23 Jan 2026

Viewed by 1257

Abstract

SARS-CoV-2, the causative virus of the COVID-19 pandemic, is a highly transmissible, enveloped, single-stranded RNA virus that has mutated into several variants, complicating vaccine strategies and drug resistance. Novel treatment modalities targeting conserved structural vulnerable points are essential to combat these variants. The primary aim of the current study is to test the mechanical vulnerability of the SARS-CoV-2 virus envelope and spike proteins to focused, high-frequency ultrasound waves (25 MHz) in vitro. Utilizing a preliminary pretest and posttest study design, the study was conducted on a virus sample within a distilled water matrix, under controlled laboratory biosafety conditions. Since detailed imaging tools were unavailable, viral disruption was indirectly measured using real-time PCR cycle threshold (Ct) values. Ct values increased significantly after high-frequency ultrasound exposure, indicating a reduction in amplifiable viral genomic material. A paired t-test indicated a significant difference between the pretest and posttest Ct (p < 0.001), which is supported by Monte Carlo test results that revealed statistically significant shifting in viral load categories (p = 0.001, two-sided). Specifically, 85.7% of high-viral-load samples converted to low or moderate content, 46.7% of low or moderate samples were shifted to negative content. This intervention produced a large effect size (Cohen’s d = 2.422). These results indicate that ultrasound may offer a promising non-pharmacological approach to destroy or inactivate SARS-CoV-2 variants in an aqueous environment. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Innovative Prophylactic and Therapeutics for the Treatment of Coronavirus Infection)

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