We illustrate the utility of COVID-KOP by examining the linagliptin—COVID-19 connection (Fig. 1). Linagliptin is a type 2 diabetes (T2D) drug that is undergoing clinical trials for COVID-19 (https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04341935). Linagliptin inhibits dipeptidyl peptidase-4 (DPP-4), which degrades hormones stimulating insulin production (Scott, 2011). It is known to be overexpressed in patients with T2D (Barchetta et al., 2020). COVID-19 patients with T2D have a higher risk of developing more severe symptoms, possibly due to an increased expression of the host receptor ACE2 (Fang et al., 2020).