On Jun. 3, 2021, the National Institutes of Health announced that the experimental drug TEMPOL may be a promising oral antiviral treatment for COVID-19, based on a study of cell cultures. TEMPOL limited SARS-CoV-2 infection by impairing the activity of a viral enzyme called RNA replicase.

The work was led by researchers at NIHﾒs Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD). The study appears in Science.