Licensed drug (fenofibrate) could reduce SARS-CoV-2 infection by up to 70 per cent, reveals study

Peer-Reviewed Publication

NEWS RELEASE 6-AUG-2021

UNIVERSITY OF BIRMINGHAM

A licensed drug normally used to treat abnormal levels of fatty substances in the blood could reduce infection caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus by up to 70 per cent, reveals a study in the laboratory by an international collaboration of researchers.

The research team, led by the University of Birmingham and Keele University in the UK and the San Raffaele Scientific Institute in Italy, has demonstrated that fenofibrate and its active form (fenofibric acid) can significantly reduce SARS-COV-2 infection in human cells in the laboratory.  Importantly, reduction of infection was obtained using concentrations of the drug which are safe and achievable using the standard clinical dose of fenofibrate.  Fenofibrate, which is approved for use by most countries in the world including the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the UK's National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), is an oral drug currently used to treat conditions such as high levels of cholesterol and  lipids (fatty substances) in the blood.

The team is now calling for clinical trials to test the drug in hospitalised COVID-19 patients, to be carried out in addition to two clinical trials also currently underway in such patients in research being led by the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania in the US and Hebrew University of Jerusalem in Israel.

SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, infects the host through an interaction between the Spike protein on the surface of the virus and the ACE2 receptor protein on host cells.  In this study, responding to the global COVID-19 pandemic, the team tested a panel of already licensed drugs – including fenofibrate - to identify candidates that disrupt ACE2 and Spike interactions.   Having identified fenofibrate as a candidate, they then tested the efficacy of the drug in reducing infection in cells in the laboratory using the original strains of the SARS-CoV-2 virus isolated in 2020.  They found fenofibrate reduced infection by up to 70%.  Additional unpublished data also indicates that fenofibrate is equally effective against the newer variants of SARS-CoV-2 including the alpha and beta variants and research is ongoing into its efficacy in the delta variant.

Corresponding author Dr Farhat Khanim, of the University of Birmingham in the UK, explained: “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 in the UK, 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.”

Co-author Dr Elisa Vicenzi, of the San Raffaele Scientific Institute in Milan, Italy, said: “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 - especially in low-middle income countries and in those individuals for whom vaccines are not recommended or suitable such as children, those with hyper-immune disorders and those using immune-suppressants.”

First author Dr Scott Davies, also of the University of Birmingham, concluded: “We now urgently need further clinical studies to establish whether fenofibrate is a potential therapeutic agent to treat SARS-CoV-2 infection.”

The research, published today (Aug 6) in Frontiers in Pharmacology, was also carried out in collaboration with the University of Copenhagen in Denmark and the University of Liverpool in the UK.

Ends

To arrange media interviews with Dr Frahat Khanim or Dr Scott Davies please contact Emma McKinney, Media Relations Manager (Health Sciences), University of Birmingham, via e.j.mckinney@bham.ac.uk or Tel: +44 7815607157

To arrange interviews with Dr Alan Richardson, contact Andrew Cain, media relations manager, Keele University, email: a.i.cain@keele.ac.uk

Notes for Editors

• Davies et al. ‘The hyperlipidaemic drug fenofibrate significantly reduces infection by SARS-1 CoV-2 in cell culture models’. Frontiers in Pharmacology.
• The University of Birmingham is ranked amongst the world’s top 100 institutions, and its work brings people from across the world to Birmingham, including researchers and teachers and more than 6,500 international students from nearly 150 countries.
• Keele University is ranked among the Top 10 universities in England for overall student satisfaction (NSS 2021), and is world-renowned for its breadth of teaching and research that tackles the world's most urgent problems, with 97% of its research being deemed to be world-leading, or of international importance (REF 2014).

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JOURNAL

Frontiers in Pharmacology

DOI

10.3389/fphar.2021.660490

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Experimental study

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Cells

ARTICLE TITLE

The hyperlipidaemic drug fenofibrate significantly reduces infection by SARS-1 CoV-2 in cell culture models

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

5-Aug-2021

Disclaimer: AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert system.

 

Vaccine pushers suppress existing, approved, cheap medication that can reduce COVID infections by 70%

Monday, August 09, 2021 by: JD Heyes
Tags: Anthony Fauci, badhealth, badmedicine, badscience, Big Pharma, cholesterol drug, conspiracy, corruption, covid-19, deception, fenofibrate, medical censorship, pandemic, research, Tyranny

9,580VIEWS

(Natural News) Vaccine pushers led by ‘experts’ like Dr. Anthony Fauci and NIH Director Dr. Francis Collins are continuing to suppress information about existing medications that have long been approved and are extremely effective at treating COVID-19 infections all because they’re obviously in bed with the Big Pharma CEOs who have become billionaires thanks to the emergency approval of their coronavirus shots.

One of those drugs is called fenofibrate, and British researchers have just published a peer-reviewed paper touting its effectiveness. The questions are, will the information get past the social media facists and will ‘experts’ like Fauci and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky tell the American people about it?

“A licensed drug normally used to treat abnormal levels of fatty substances in the blood could reduce infection caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus by up to 70 percent, reveals a study in the laboratory by an international collaboration of researchers,” a press release published last week noted.

“The research team, led by the University of Birmingham and Keele University in the UK and the San Raffaele Scientific Institute in Italy, has demonstrated that fenofibrate and its active form (fenofibric acid) can significantly reduce SARS-COV-2 infection in human cells in the laboratory,” the release continued.

“Importantly, reduction of infection was obtained using concentrations of the drug which are safe and achievable using the standard clinical dose of fenofibrate,” it added.

The drug has already been approved for use in most countries and that includes the United States; the Food and Drug Administration, as well as the UK’s National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), has approved it for oral use for treatment of conditions that include high cholesterol levels and to reduce lipids (fatty substances) in the bloodstream, thus lowering the risk for heart attacks and strokes.

Research proves drug’s effectiveness

“The team is now calling for clinical trials to test the drug in hospitalized COVID-19 patients, to be carried out in addition to two clinical trials also currently underway in such patients in research being led by the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania in the US and Hebrew University of Jerusalem in Israel,” the press release stated.

The research team explained how fenofibrate works to prevent COVID from seriously infecting people:

SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, infects the host through an interaction between the Spike protein on the surface of the virus and the ACE2 receptor protein on host cells. In this study, responding to the global COVID-19 pandemic, the team tested a panel of already licensed drugs – including fenofibrate – to identify candidates that disrupt ACE2 and Spike interactions.  

Having identified fenofibrate as a candidate, they then tested the efficacy of the drug in reducing infection in cells in the laboratory using the original strains of the SARS-CoV-2 virus isolated in 2020. They found fenofibrate reduced infection by up to 70%. 

Additional unpublished data also indicates that fenofibrate is equally effective against the newer variants of SARS-CoV-2 including the alpha and beta variants and research is ongoing into its efficacy in the delta variant.

“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,” said one of the researchers, Dr. Farhat Khanim, of the University of Birmingham in the UK.

“Whilst vaccine programs 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,” Khanim added.

Dr. Alan Richardson, of Keele University in the UK, added, “Therapies are still urgently needed to manage COVID-19 patients who develop symptoms or require hospitalization.”

Additionally, Dr. Elisa Vicenzi, of the San Raffaele Scientific Institute in Milan, Italy, added, “Our data indicates that fenofibrate may have the potential to reduce the severity of COVID-19 symptoms and also virus spread.”

She went on to say that the drug is cheap, widely available in most countries, and would benefit low-to-middle-income persons the most — another reason why Big Pharma hates it as a COVID treatment.

Sources include:

Eureka.org

NaturalNews.com