Review

Molecularly imprinted polymer-based electrochemical sensors for the analysis of antiviral drugs used in SARS-CoV-2: Innovations and recent applications

Volume: 6 Number: 1 December 30, 2025
EN TR

Molecularly imprinted polymer-based electrochemical sensors for the analysis of antiviral drugs used in SARS-CoV-2: Innovations and recent applications

Abstract

Viruses that cause infectious diseases pose a vital threat to the health of living beings. Antiviral drugs are widely used to treat these diseases. In recent years, due to the prevalence of infectious diseases and global epidemics, the use of antiviral medications has become increasingly widespread. In recent years, antiviral drugs, particularly SARS-CoV-2, have been used in the treatment of COVID-19, an infectious disease that has caused significant deaths worldwide. These drugs are primarily used to reduce the effects of viruses, prevent their spread, and treat the disease. Therefore, MIP-based electrochemical sensors are widely used to provide rapid, sensitive, reliable, stable, and, most importantly, selective detection of antiviral drugs. Furthermore, MIPs can be integrated into miniature devices, are reusable, and possess a highly stable structure even under harsh conditions. A review of the literature reveals that these significant advantages of MIP-based electrochemical sensors have made them a substantial asset in the selective and sensitive determination of antiviral drugs. This study investigates the applications, sensor designs, and properties of MIP-based electrochemical sensors, specifically designed for the drugs favipiravir, lopinavir, remdesivir, ribavirin, and umifenovir, which have been widely used in the treatment of SARS-CoV-2 infections in recent years, in both pharmaceutical and biological samples. Furthermore, this review will shed light on the analysis of these drugs and the methods to be developed in the coming years.

Keywords

References

  1. 1. Gritsok D, Hedström M, Montenegro MCBSM, Amorim CG. Electrochemical molecularly imprinted polymer sensors in viral diagnostics: Innovations, challenges and case studies. Biosens Bioelectron. 2025;287:117678.
  2. 2. Wang M, Wang W, Chen S, et al. The state-of-the-art of molecularly imprinted polymers based electrochemical sensors and their applications in drug assay. Coord Chem Rev. 2025;526:216384.
  3. 3. Budak F, Piskin E, Cetinkaya A, Ozkan SA. Applications of antiviral drugs with electrochemical sensors. Essential Chem. 2025;1–17.
  4. 4. Tuci S, Mercorelli B, Loregian A. Antiviral drug repurposing: Different approaches and the case of antifungal drugs. Pharmacol Ther. 2025;273:108903.
  5. 5. Cetinkaya A, Kaya SI, Ozkan SA. A comprehensive overview of sensor applications for the diagnosis of SARS-CoV-2 and drugs used in its treatment. Crit Rev Anal Chem. 2023;53:2517–2537.
  6. 6. Mason S, Devincenzo JP, Toovey S, Wu JZ, Whitley RJ. Comparison of antiviral resistance across acute and chronic viral infections. Antiviral Res. 2018;158:103–112.
  7. 7. Rosli NB, Kwon HJ, Jeong JS. Simultaneous quantification method for multiple antiviral drugs in serum using isotope dilution liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry. J Chromatogr B. 2023;1231:123925.
  8. 8. Wagdy HA. A newly developed and validated environmentally friendly RP-HPLC stability-indicating method for molnupiravir: Application to degradation kinetics and LC-MS analysis. Microchem J. 2024;199:109980.

Details

Primary Language

English

Subjects

Clinical Chemistry

Journal Section

Review

Early Pub Date

December 30, 2025

Publication Date

December 30, 2025

Submission Date

September 26, 2025

Acceptance Date

November 25, 2025

Published in Issue

Year 2026 Volume: 6 Number: 1

APA
Budak, F., Piskin, E., Cetinkaya, A., & Özkan, S. A. (2026). Molecularly imprinted polymer-based electrochemical sensors for the analysis of antiviral drugs used in SARS-CoV-2: Innovations and recent applications. Pharmata, 6(1), 30-37. https://doi.org/10.62425/pharmata.1790559
AMA
1.Budak F, Piskin E, Cetinkaya A, Özkan SA. Molecularly imprinted polymer-based electrochemical sensors for the analysis of antiviral drugs used in SARS-CoV-2: Innovations and recent applications. Pharmata. 2026;6(1):30-37. doi:10.62425/pharmata.1790559
Chicago
Budak, Fatma, Ensar Piskin, Ahmet Cetinkaya, and Sibel A. Özkan. 2026. “Molecularly Imprinted Polymer-Based Electrochemical Sensors for the Analysis of Antiviral Drugs Used in SARS-CoV-2: Innovations and Recent Applications”. Pharmata 6 (1): 30-37. https://doi.org/10.62425/pharmata.1790559.
EndNote
Budak F, Piskin E, Cetinkaya A, Özkan SA (March 1, 2026) Molecularly imprinted polymer-based electrochemical sensors for the analysis of antiviral drugs used in SARS-CoV-2: Innovations and recent applications. Pharmata 6 1 30–37.
IEEE
[1]F. Budak, E. Piskin, A. Cetinkaya, and S. A. Özkan, “Molecularly imprinted polymer-based electrochemical sensors for the analysis of antiviral drugs used in SARS-CoV-2: Innovations and recent applications”, Pharmata, vol. 6, no. 1, pp. 30–37, Mar. 2026, doi: 10.62425/pharmata.1790559.
ISNAD
Budak, Fatma - Piskin, Ensar - Cetinkaya, Ahmet - Özkan, Sibel A. “Molecularly Imprinted Polymer-Based Electrochemical Sensors for the Analysis of Antiviral Drugs Used in SARS-CoV-2: Innovations and Recent Applications”. Pharmata 6/1 (March 1, 2026): 30-37. https://doi.org/10.62425/pharmata.1790559.
JAMA
1.Budak F, Piskin E, Cetinkaya A, Özkan SA. Molecularly imprinted polymer-based electrochemical sensors for the analysis of antiviral drugs used in SARS-CoV-2: Innovations and recent applications. Pharmata. 2026;6:30–37.
MLA
Budak, Fatma, et al. “Molecularly Imprinted Polymer-Based Electrochemical Sensors for the Analysis of Antiviral Drugs Used in SARS-CoV-2: Innovations and Recent Applications”. Pharmata, vol. 6, no. 1, Mar. 2026, pp. 30-37, doi:10.62425/pharmata.1790559.
Vancouver
1.Fatma Budak, Ensar Piskin, Ahmet Cetinkaya, Sibel A. Özkan. Molecularly imprinted polymer-based electrochemical sensors for the analysis of antiviral drugs used in SARS-CoV-2: Innovations and recent applications. Pharmata. 2026 Mar. 1;6(1):30-7. doi:10.62425/pharmata.1790559

Content of this journal is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial 4.0 International License

29929