Niclosamide, which has potent antiviral activity against single-stranded RNA viruses including coronaviruses, was proposed as an antiviral during the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) outbreak in 2002 and has activity including Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) where it was found to inhibit SARS coronavirus, SARS-CoV, in in vitro studies and similarly structured RNA viruses (both in vitro and in vivo). The investigators hypothesize that the antiviral activity of Niclosamide may be extended to COVID-19.
