Off-patent liver disease drug could prevent COVID-19 infection and protect against future variants (UDCA)

Medical Xpress / University of Cambridge / Nature ^ | Dec. 5, 2022 | Fotios Sampaziotis et al

[ConservativeMind]

Scientists have identified an off-patent drug that can be repurposed to prevent COVID-19—and may be capable of protecting against future variants of the virus—in research involving a unique mix of "mini-organs," donor organs, animal studies and patients.

The research showed that an existing drug used to treat a type of liver disease is able to "lock" the doorway by which SARS-CoV-2 enters our cells, a receptor on the cell surface known as ACE2. Because this drug targets the host cells and not the virus, it should protect against future new variants of the virus as well as other coronaviruses that might emerge.

"We're interested in finding alternative ways to protect us from SARS-CoV-2 infection that are not dependent on the immune system and could complement vaccination. We've discovered a way to close the door to the virus, preventing it from getting into our cells in the first place and protecting us from infection."

…The researchers found that a molecule known as FXR, which is present in large amounts in these bile duct organoids, directly regulates the viral "doorway" ACE2, effectively opening and closing it. They went on to show that ursodeoxycholic acid (UDCA), an off-patent drug, "turns down" FXR and closes the ACE2 doorway.

Professor Lohse explained, "We recruited volunteers to receive the drug. When we swabbed the noses of these volunteers, we found lower levels of ACE2, suggesting that the virus would have fewer opportunities to break into and infect their nasal cells—the main gateway for the virus."

While it wasn't possible to run a full-scale clinical trial, the researchers did the next best thing: looking at data on COVID-19 outcomes from two independent cohorts of patients. They found that patients receiving UDCA were less likely to develop severe COVID-19 and be hospitalized.

[joesbucks]

Lots. It for the most part is ineffective.

[MayflowerMadam]

Again ... not pertinent to my post.

(BTW - it “cured” me within about 18 hours.)

[joesbucks]

You likely cured yourself a lot of folks experienced that. COViD was a very strange disease with how it attacked people. My health conditions should have made me not not only a prime candidate to get the disease but a candidate for the cemetery. While not hiding under a rock, I’ve not been stupid about life. I’ve so far avoided it. Actually I’ve not gotten my normal annual cold and or mild flu since prior to COViD. A long way to say people can and do fight this disease in different ways and your experience may be nothing more your body fighting off the disease where it may have impacted others more severely. Maybe God was shining on you?

[Conservative4Life]

How and where do we get it?