Clinical results show Tricor can facilitate hospitalized patients’ removal from oxygen within 5-7 days
A Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HUJI) study released Monday shows that a drug usually used to reduce cholesterol utilizes the same lipid-lowering effects to successfully treat hospitalized COVID-19 patients.
Lipids are known to initiate severe inflammation in a process called lipotoxicity. The team, which Prof Yaakov Nahmias leads, identified the lipid-lowering drug TriCor (fenofibrate) as an effective antiviral last year, showing it both reduced lung cell damage and blocked virus replication in the laboratory, according to a HUJI statement.
In this study, Nahmias coordinated with Prof Shlomo Maayan, Head of the Infectious Disease Unit at Barzilai Medical Center in the southern city of Ashkelon.
In total, 15 severe-hospitalized COVID-19 patients with pneumonia requiring oxygen support were treated. In addition to the usual standard of care, those patients in the study were given 145 mg/day of TriCor (fenofibrate) for 10 days and continuously monitored for diseases progression and outcomes.
“The results were astounding,” Nahmias enthused. “Progressive inflammation markers, that are the hallmark of deteriorative COVID-19, dropped within 48 hours of treatment. Moreover, 14 out of the 15 severe patients didn’t require oxygen support within a week of treatment,” he added.
“All patients were discharged within less than a week after the treatment began and were discharged to complete the 10-day treatment at home, with no drug-related adverse events reported,” noted Maayan.
The findings were released on Research Square and are currently under peer review.
The data were presented at a time when Israel has witnessed another spike of infections and hospitalizations, due to the prevalence of the delta variant.
