A common drug used to reduce blood cholesterol can help cure COVID-19 by up to 70 percent. These disclosures have been made by researchers from the UK and Italy. The results of these lab tests have been published in the academic journal 'Frontiers in Pharmacology'.
In different parts of the world, the drug Fenofibrate is used to reduce cholesterol and lipids i.e. fatty elements. The drug, which is of oral kind, has also been approved by the US nodal agency Food and Drug Administration, and the UK National Institute for Health and Care Excellence.
Big Claims Made For Cholesterol-Lowering Drug
Researcher Farhat Khanim from the University of Birmingham said: "COVID-19 vaccine reduces infection as expected but the virus still spreads in the long run, so there is still a need to increase the stock of drugs to treat COVID-positive patients."
The team of researchers has now demanded a human trial of the drug on the COVID-19 patients being treated at the hospital. However, human trials are already underway at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in Israel and the University of Pennsylvania in the US to investigate the effect of the drug on COVID-infected patients.
COVID Infection To Be Reduced By 70 percent
SARS CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19 enters by holding on to its spike protein and the protein ACE-2 on the cell membrane. The research was aimed at identifying a drug that could interfere between ACE-2 receptors and proteins.
After identifying Fenofibrate as a potential candidate, researchers examined its effect on human cells in the lab. These human cells were infected with SARS CoV-2.
Lab results showed that this drug can clearly reduce the disease by up to 70 percent.
Additional unpublished data also indicates that the drug is equally effective on new variants of COVID-19, including alpha and beta variants, while its impact on delta variants is still under investigation.