TNF and COVID-19: To test whether our identified drug CVL218 is able to regulate the expression of cytokines in vitro, we first stimulated the cytokine production of the peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PMBCs) by lipopolysaccharide (LPS) and then measured the concentrations of four cytokines (i.e., IL-6, IL-10, IFN-γ, and TNF-α) that are highly relevant to the pathogenesis of COVID-19 after 6 h and 24 h of drug treatment.