The fact that treatments for respiratory viral infections like those caused by SARS-CoV, MERS-CoV, and SARS-CoV-2 are restricted to medications designed to treat only symptoms of pulmonary disease justifies the repurposing of drugs, preferably FDA-approved drugs already investigated in patients for tolerance and toxicity, with the dual ability to target the root causes of infection and to mitigate symptoms of respiratory distress caused by the infection. It would thus be beneficial to find and identify multi-targeted drugs in clinical use that encompass both properties. Such drugs would ideally also be able to potentiate the effectiveness of other more targeted antiviral agents or supportive therapies approved for severe or potentially fatal respiratory diseases.