Drug Used for Cholesterol Reduces COVID-19 Infection By 70%

Sometimes the world’s biggest problems can be solved in incredibly simple ways. Laboratory studies of a team of researchers from the UK and Italy are now revealing that a drug meant for being used for cholesterol can also be efficient in reducing COVID-19 infection by an incredible 70%.

More precisely, fenofibrate and fenofibric acid led to a significant reduction in COVID infection for human cells. The drug was used in approved and safe concentrations, as a news release from EurekAlert revealed.

Researchers are waiting for additional clinical trials for hospitalized COVID patients

While researchers are already waiting for new clinical trials, we have strong reasons to have faith in the new findings! The team called for clinical trials to explore the possibility of using the drug as a potential COVID-19 therapy.

Dr. Elisa Vicenzi, who is co-author of the new study and working at the San Raffaele Scientific Institute in Milan, declared:

Our data indicates that fenofibrate may have the potential to reduce the severity of COVID-19 symptoms and also virus spread,

Given that fenofibrate is an oral drug which is very cheap and available worldwide, together with its extensive history of clinical use and its good safety profile, our data has global implications.

The drug works by inhibiting the bad overproduction of cytokines that are linked to coronavirus infection. Airway inflammation is also treated. As for additional properties, they could prevent blood clots that were seen in late-stage disease for many COVID patients.

The new findings were published in the Frontiers in Pharmacology.

Until now, according to worldometers.info, a total number of 203.2 million COVID infections occurred across the world. More than 4.3 million people died as a result of infection with the coronavirus, while over 182.5 million were recovered.