| The highly pathogenic, novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak has emerged as a once-in-a-century
pandemic with poor consequences, urgently calling for new therapeutics, cures, and supportive interventions.
It has already affected over 250 million people worldwide; thereby, there is a need for novel therapies to alleviate
the related complications. There is a paradigm shift in developing drugs and clinical practices to combat COVID-
19. Several clinical trials have been performed or are testing diverse pharmacological interventions to alleviate
viral load and complications such as cytokine release storm (CRS). Kinase-inhibitors have appeared as potential
antiviral agents for COVID-19 patients due to their effcacy against CRS. Combination of kinase inhibitors with
other therapies can achieve more effcacy against COVID-19. Based on the pre-clinical trials, kinase inhibitors
such as Janus kinase-signal transducer and activator of transcription (JAK/STAT) inhibitors, Brutton's tyrosin
kinase (BTK) inhibitors, p38 mitogen-activated protein kinases (p38 MAPK) inhibitors, Glycogen synthase kinase
3 (GSK-3) inhibitors can be a promising strategy against COVID-19. Kinase inhibitors possess crucial pharmacological properties for a successful re-purposing in terms of dual anti-inflammatory and anti-viral effects. This
review will address the current clinical evidence and the newest discovery regarding the application of kinase
inhibitors in COVID-19. An outlook on ongoing clinical trials (clinicaltrials.gov) and unpublished data is also
presented here. Besides, Kinase inhibitors' function on COVID-19-mediated CRS is discussed. |