Thalidomide is generally used to treat interstitial pulmonary fibrosis which is lung damage resulting from the herbicide paraquat and from myeloma. The drug has also shown activity against HIV via modulation of replication induced by the proinflammatory cytokine TNF-alpha. Thalidomide has also been shown to inhibit nuclear factor kB which leads to the suppression of proinflammatory TNF-alpha and IL-8. As a result of its function in treating lung damage and its activity against another virus, HIV, it was suggested that it could be used in the treatment of COVID-19