Abstract
Background and purpose: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by
Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome- Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV2) is a highly
contagious disease that has infected more than 200,000 patients and led
to more than 10000 deaths in 166 countries in less than four months. New
medications are needed to combat this disease. Since the process of
discovery, development and approval of new drugs is long, old drugs can
be repurposed for treatment of COVID-19. Oseltamivir is used for
management of COVID-19 and Influenza A. Rimantadine is an alternative
drug to oseltamivir for management of influenza A. Therefore, it is
possible that rimantadine can be used for management of COVID-19 as an
alternative to oseltamivir. The purpose of the study is to verify the
potential of rimantadine as a drug for COVID-19 Methods: The SARS-CoV2
nucleocapsid was downloaded from the Protein databank and the chemical
structure of rimantadine downloaded from Pubchem. Molecular docking of
the nucleocapsid as the receptor and rimantadine as the ligand was done
using avogadro and chimera software. Prediction of pharmacokinetic
properties was done using SWISSADME website while the toxicity
properties predicted using the ProTox server. Results: The interactions
between rimantadine and the SARS-CoV2 nucleocapsid involved conventional
hydrogen bonding with threonine & asparagine; attractive charge
interaction with aspartate and Pi-alkyl interaction with tryptophan.
Rimantadine has high gastrointestinal activity, very few drug-drug
interactions and is relatively safe. Conclusion: Rimantadine binds to
the SARS-CoV2 nucleocapsid and can thus be used for management of
COVID-19. Keywords: Rimantadine, COVID-19, SARS-CoV2, Oseltamivir