An oral drug normally used to treat high levels of cholesterol could reduce coronavirus infection by up to 70 per cent, a new study claims.
A UK-led research team said its lab tests showed that the drug, fenofibrate, and its active form, fenofibrate acid, can "significantly" reduce Covid-19 infection in human cells.
Tests also suggest the drug is equally effective against the newer variants of Covid-19, including the Alpha and Beta variants, the team said.
It is now calling for clinical trial to test the drug on coronavirus patients in UK hospitals alongside trials currently being carried out by teams in Philadelphia in the US and Jerusalem, WalesOnline reports.
Fenofibrate is already licensed for use in the UK to treat high levels of cholesterol and fatty substances (lipids) in the blood.
The research team was led by the University of Birmingham and Keele University in the UK, and Italy's San Raffaele Scientific Institute.
They tested a number of drugs, including fenofibrate, to find out if any of them disrupted the process of Covid infection.
After it showed promise, researchers tested the efficacy of fenofibrate in reducing infection in human cells in the laboratory using the original strains of the SARS-CoV-2 virus isolated in 2020.
They found that fenofibrate reduced infection by up to 70 per cent.
Additional unpublished data also suggests the drug is equally effective against the newer variants of Covid-19, including the Alpha and Beta variants.
Research into the drug's efficacy against the Delta variant is ongoing.
Corresponding author Dr Farhat Khanim, of the University of Birmingham, said: “The development of new more infectious SARS-CoV-2 variants has resulted in a rapid expansion in infection rates and deaths in several countries around the world, especially the UK, US and Europe.
"Whilst vaccine programmes will hopefully reduce infection rates and virus spread in the longer term, there is still an urgent need to expand our arsenal of drugs to treat SARS-CoV-2-positive patients.”
Co-corresponding author Dr Alan Richardson, of Keele University, added: “Whilst in some countries vaccination programmes are progressing at speed, vaccine uptake rates are variable and for most low middle income countries, significant proportions of the population are unlikely to be vaccinated until 2022.
"Furthermore, whilst vaccination has been shown to reduce infection rates and severity of disease, we are as yet unsure of the strength and duration of the response.
"Therapies are still urgently needed to manage Covid-19 patients who develop symptoms or require hospitalisation.”
