An update on available traditional and convalescent plasma (CP) therapies for COVID-19

COVID-19 disease, caused by the newly discovered coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, continues to spread across the globe. Several antiviral drugs are currently available; but none are specific to COVID-19. Although many pharmaceutical companies are working on developing vaccines, neutralizing antibodies, or drugs; however, still in progress. We have to wait for the vaccine till its availability. Therefore, we have to depend on the cocktails of the available traditional anti-viral medicines as well as convalescent serum from COVID-19 recovered patients for the treatment of COVID-19. Convalescent plasma (CP) treatment has proven to be promising for SARS and H1N1 influenza; however, the supply of convalescent serum is not adequate to treat a large number of people. Fewer patients (30-40%) have recovered from COVID-19 infection than people infected with the disease. In this review, we list some available traditional and non-traditional anti-viral medicines and highlight the implications and likely consequences of CP for COVID-19 patients.