A new study has found that clofazimine, an anti-leprosy drug, can be repurposed to treat SARS-CoV-2. It stated that the drug exhibits potent antiviral activities against the Covid-19 virus.
Researchers of the study noted that their data provide evidence that clofazimine may have a role in the control of the current SARS-CoV-2 pandemic and future pandemics caused by coronaviruses.
This work is published in Nature titled “Clofazimine broadly inhibits coronaviruses, including SARS-CoV-2.”
“Clofazimine is an ideal candidate for a Covid-19 treatment. It is safe, affordable, easy to make, taken as a pill, and can be made globally available,” said co-senior author Sumit Chanda, Ph.D., professor and director of the immunity and pathogenesis program at Sanford Burnham Prebys.
He added: “We hope to test clofazimine in Phase II clinical trial as soon as possible for people who test positive for Covid-19 but are not hospitalized. Since there is currently no outpatient treatment available for these individuals, clofazimine may help reduce the impact of the disease, which is particularly important now as we see new variants of the virus emerge and against which the current vaccines appear less efficacious.”
Clofazimine, which was discovered in 1954, is FDA approved and on the World Health Organization’s List of Essential Medicines.
The findings of the study suggested that clofazimine was found to inhibit the viral spike-mediated cell fusion and viral helicase activity. In a hamster model of infection, clofazimine significantly reduced viral load in the lung and fecal viral shedding. It also prevented inflammation associated with the viral infection.
The researchers also noted that clofazimine was also able to reduce the replication of MERS-CoV, the coronavirus that causes Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS), in human lung tissue.