# Drugs Currently Under Investigation for Clovid-19



## DaveM (Jun 29, 2015)

This is a list of drugs being tested for Covid-19. Check them out. You may be on one of them. I'm on two of them: Famotidine and Losartan.

*RESPIRATORY INJURY AND INFLAMMATION:*

In a serious case of COVID-19, the coronavirus reaches the lungs and causes acute respiratory distress. So looking for drugs that can protect the lungs is a no-brainer.

AVIPTADIL: a component of the erectile dysfunction drug Procivni. Aviptadil is a synthetic form of human vasoactive intestinal polypeptide, which is highly concentrated in the lungs. It protects them from injury and prevents inflammation.

VITAMIN C INFUSIONS: have emerged as an effective way to protect the lungs from acute injury, as well as a powerful treatment for sepsis. Researchers in Virginia will test a three-day regimen of vitamin C infusions to see whether they prevent lung injury in seriously ill COVID-19 patients.

HYPERBARIC OXYGEN THERAPY: Delivered in a full-body oxygen chamber, the treatment is thought to increase the amount of dissolved oxygen in the blood and promote its delivery to delicate tissues throughout the body. It may also reduce the intensity of the immune system's inflammatory response and even kill the virus outright.

*IMMUNE SYSTEM OVERREACTION:*

COLCHICINE: tamps down inflammation in the tissues surrounding the heart, a condition known as pericarditis, and it reduces swelling and inflammation in patients with gout. A large trial in the U.S., Canada and Spain will test 6,000 patients at high risk of developing severe cases of COVID-19 to see whether colchicine reduces their odds of becoming critically sick.

RUXOLITINIB (marketed as Jakafi): used to treat the rare blood cancer myelofibrosis and graft-versus-host disease, which causes a transplant recipient's immune system to reject a new organ. It inhibits inflammation, reins in the body's immune response and appears to induce the death of some kinds of cancer cells.

ETOPOSIDE (Etopophos) is a chemotherapy drug used to treat testicular cancer, lung cancer, lymphoma, leukemia, neuroblastoma and ovarian cancer. It's also given to patients with hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis, a potentially fatal overproduction of immune cells with effects similar to those seen in many with COVID-19.

SIROLIMUS (Rapamune) is an immune-suppressing drug taken to reduce rejection episodes in organ transplant patients and is used in coronary artery stents.

*RHEUMATOID ARTHRITIS:*

BARICITINIB (Olumiant) suppresses immune response by the same means as ruxolitinib. At University of Colorado Denver, researchers will conduct a small trial to test whether COVID-19 patients fare better on baricitinib than they do with usual care.

SARILUMAB (Kevzara) in a large multi-center trial to see if its known action in rheumatoid arthritis - suppressing so-called cytokine storms, the inflammatory response implicated in COVID-19 - would reduce a key measure of inflammation and prevent hospitalization, mechanical ventilation or death.

TOCILIZUMAB (Actemra) could ward off cytokine storms, and it will be tested in a small trial of newly hospitalized patients at the University of Chicago and in a large international trial sponsored by the drug's manufacturer, Hoffmann-La Roche. In a small study in China, all 21 patients with severe or critical COVID-19 saw their body temperatures return to normal after treatment with tocilizumab, 15 reduced their need for supplemental oxygen within five days, and measures of inflammation returned to normal in at least half. Lung lesions cleared in 19 patients, and all 21 were discharged between 10 and 31 days after treatment, with no adverse reactions reported.
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DISRUPTING VIRAL REPLICATION:*

CAMOSTAT MESYLATE is used in Japan to treat reflux esophagitis and chronic pancreatitis. A protease inhibitor, researchers think it may disrupt the coronavirus' ability to latch onto and enter into lung cells. In tests with infected mice, it reduced deaths from 100% to between 30% and 35%.

LOSARTAN (Cozaar) and TELMISARTAN (Micardis) are angiotensin receptor blockers used to treat high blood pressure. Because they dock at the receptors the coronavirus uses to latch onto and enter cells, these drugs may prevent the virus from gaining a toehold or causing serious damage to the lungs.

LERONLIMAB: the first of a new class of HIV drug and still in clinical trials, is thought to inhibit the coronavirus' entry into cells and possibly to reduce the likelihood of a cytokine storm.

*WHO KNOWS HOW THEY MAY WORK:*

FAMOTIDINE: the medication known to U.S. consumers as Pepcid, will be tested as a COVID-19 treatment under a $20-million Department of Defense contract. Case reports from China first noted that among COVID- 19 patients at high risk of becoming critically ill, those who routinely took famotidine for gastric reflux fared much better than those who took a more expensive antacid of a different class.

TRANEXAMIC, or TXA, is a synthetic version of naturally occurring protein that helps the blood coagulate. One of COVID-19's more mysterious symptoms is coagulopathy.

DAPAGLIFLOZIN (Farxiga) is a widely advertised drug taken by those with Type 2 diabetes to reduce the likelihood of hospitalization for heart failure. AstraZeneca, is sponsoring a large trial to reduce rates of respiratory failure and other complications in Kansas City, MO.

FLUVOXAMINE (Luvox) is an antidepressant used mainly to treat obsessive- compulsive disorder. Its primary job is to boost the brain's supply of serotonin, but it has many incidental effects. Researchers in St. Louis will enroll 152 patients to test whether the drug, when used early in COVID-19 infection, can prevent more serious complications such as shortness of breath.


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## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

Thanks for the list. I'm on Losartan like you, but take Omeprazole for my stomach issues. That's a different class of drug from Famotidine. Oh well, every little bit helps!


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## DaveM (Jun 29, 2015)

KenOC said:


> Thanks for the list. I'm on Losartan like you, but take Omeprazole for my stomach issues. That's a different class of drug from Famotidine. Oh well, every little bit helps!


Many people can transfer to famotidine from the proton-pump inhibitors, but the company that makes it is saying they probably won't be able to meet demands until the 4th quarter. It would be nice though if there were an announcement that nobody on losartan can catch the virus.


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## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

DaveM said:


> Many people can transfer to famotidine from the proton-pump inhibitors, but the company that makes it is saying they probably won't be able to meet demands until the 4th quarter. It would be nice though if there were an announcement that nobody on losartan can catch the virus.


I've e-mailed my doctor to see if I can/should switch. Amazon still shows stocks of Pepcid and some other famotidine products...


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## DaveM (Jun 29, 2015)

KenOC said:


> I've e-mailed my doctor to see if I can/should switch. Amazon still shows stocks of Pepcid and some other famotidine products...


Interesting! I did not know that.


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## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

DaveM said:


> Interesting! I did not know that.


On closer inspection, most offerings are either sold out or are being sold at ruinous prices...


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## SixFootScowl (Oct 17, 2011)

I quit Omeprazole several years ago when i heard of many bad side effects (and I did get pneumonia not long before, which is one side effect, greater susceptiblity to pneumonia). Only get heartburn if I overindulge in my favorite vegetable: Ketchup! I quit Losartan because my BP got better. Only drug I take is Levothyroxine, and that to hinder goiter growth (family history, sister, father and his mother all had thyroid cancer).

They had me taking 40mg Omeprazole in the AM and the receptionist, after hearing my heartburn problems were only after dinner (the Ketchup meal), told me to take half as much before dinner. That worked, so I was able to cut my dose in half just by timing when I take it. I think standard advice is in the morning.


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## DaveM (Jun 29, 2015)

KenOC said:


> On closer inspection, most offerings are either sold out or are being sold at ruinous prices...


Aurobindo Pharma one of the 2 manufacturers is now saying they will be meeting the increased demand by June 15. Don't know if that means that stores will be restocked. By that time I would think there will be info from the trials. If they show benefit, I doubt that famotidine will appear on shelves for long if at all.


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## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

DaveM said:


> Aurobindo Pharma one of the 2 manufacturers is now saying they will be meeting the increased demand by June 15. Don't know if that means that stores will be restocked. By that time I would think there will be info from the trials. If they show benefit, I doubt that famotidine will appear on shelves for long if at all.


I e-mailed my doctor about Pepcid. He wrote back, "Currently, all pharmacies have placed strict guidelines on Pepcid orders now." He advised me to keep taking the PPIs.


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## DaveM (Jun 29, 2015)

KenOC said:


> I e-mailed my doctor about Pepcid. He wrote back, "Currently, all pharmacies have placed strict guidelines on Pepcid orders now." He advised me to keep taking the PPIs.


They sure are keeping quiet about famotidine. Nothing about it on the internet for several days. What I found so interesting was that after the fact of their noticing an anecdotal difference in response to the virus in older people in China, the drug was found to be in the top 3 of several hundred other drugs that had the structure to potentially block a protease the virus needs to replicate.


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