In December 2019, a new severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) causing coronavirus diseases 2019 (COVID-19) emerged in Wuhan, China. African countries see slower dynamic of COVID-19 cases and deaths. One of the assumptions that may explain this later emergence in Africa, and more particularly in malaria endemic areas, would be the use of antimalarial drugs. We investigated the
in vitro
antiviral activity against SARS-CoV-2 of several antimalarial drugs. Chloroquine (EC
50
= 2.1 μM and EC
90
= 3.8 μM), hydroxychloroquine (EC
50
= 1.5 μM and EC
90
= 3.0 μM), ferroquine (EC
50
= 1.5 μM and EC
90
= 2.4 μM), desethylamodiaquine (EC
50
= 0.52 μM and EC
90
= 1.9 μM), mefloquine (EC
50
= 1.8 μM and EC
90
= 8.1 μM), pyronaridine (EC
50
= 0.72 μM and EC
90
= 0.75 μM) and quinine (EC
50
= 10.7 μM and EC
90
= 38.8 μM) showed
in vitro
antiviral effective activity with IC
50
and IC
90
compatible with drug oral uptake at doses commonly administered in malaria treatment. The ratio C
lung
/EC
90
ranged from 5 to 59. Lumefantrine, piperaquine and dihydroartemisinin had IC
50
and IC
90
too high to be compatible with expected plasma concentrations (ratio C
max
/EC
90
< 0.05). Based on our results, we would expect that countries which commonly use artesunate-amodiaquine or artesunate-mefloquine report fewer cases and deaths than those using artemether-lumefantrine or dihydroartemisinin-piperaquine. It could be necessary now to compare the antimalarial use and the dynamics of COVID-19 country by country to confirm this hypothesis.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.