Fenofi, a dyslipidemia treatment, prevents 70% of COVID-19

A study found that fenofibrate, a treatment for dyslipidemia, was effective in preventing up to 70% of COVID-19.

According to a MedicalXpress report on the 7th, a joint research team from the University of Birmingham and Keele University in the UK, the San Rafaele Scientific Research Institute in Italy and the University of Copenhagen in Denmark has developed a drug that can suppress the infection of the COVID-19 virus by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). After searching among FDA approved drugs, I found fenofibrate. Fenofibrate and fenofibric acid, the active form of fenofibrate, have been proven to be effective in significantly inhibiting COVID-19 virus infection in vitro, the research team said. The COVID-19 virus uses the spike protein on its surface to interact with the ACE2 (angiotensin converting enzyme 2) receptor, a surface protein of the host cell, to infect host cells, and fenofibrate blocks this interaction, the research team explained.

The research team conducted an experiment to infect cells in vitro with the original Corona 19 virus collected last year and found that when fenofibrate was administered, infection was reduced by up to 70%. The same results were obtained in subsequent experiments with alpha and beta mutations. The effect on the delta mutant virus, which is currently spreading as the dominant species in the world, is currently being confirmed, the research team said. Now, the research team urged that it is necessary to confirm this by conducting a clinical trial on COVID-19 patients.

Even so, clinical trials for fenofibrate are already underway at the University of Pennsylvania Hospital in the US and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in Israel. Previously, a joint research team from the Hebrew University Biotechnology Center in Israel and the Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York, USA, announced the results of a study that fenofibrate blocks the production of fat required for the COVID-19 virus to multiply in lung cells. The COVID-19 virus prevents the burning of carbohydrates in lung cells, resulting in the accumulation of a large amount of fat necessary for proliferation in the cells.

If the effectiveness of fenofibrate is confirmed in clinical trials, the research team expects that it could be a vaccine replacement for countries where vaccines are not readily available, children who may not be suitable for vaccination, immunodeficient patients, and patients taking immunosuppressants. . Fenofibrate is a cheap and safe drug that can be easily obtained anywhere in the world, and it lowers blood levels of low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol and triglycerides, which are bad cholesterol.

Reporter Park Se-hee