A study found that metformin, a widely used diabetes treatment, cut emergency room visits, hospitalizations, and deaths by more than half within four days of onset of symptoms of COVID-19.
Researchers from the University of Minnesota reported on the 19th that metformin reduced severe symptoms by more than half in a large randomized double-blind controlled trial within four days of symptoms of COVID-19, according to the New England Journal of Medicine.
The founder of the Parsemus Foundation, a nonprofit medical research foundation in the United States, said, “It was really exciting to see that people taking metformin had fewer hospitalizations for COVID-19, and they started a full-fledged randomized trial.”
Studies have shown that metformin, also known as glucophage, is an antiviral drug called ‘fluamine’ in the ’50s, and recent studies have shown that the drug affects inflammatory pathways. Because COVID-19 involves viral inflammation, an anti-inflammatory and antiviral combination is involved.
The University of Minnesota research team studied three antidepressants, fluvoxamine, ivermectin, and metformin. “Many researchers are very disappointed that the effect of fluvoxamine is inconclusive, and there is a need to study at higher doses,” the team said.
However, metformin was effective in treating coronavirus. The researchers included 1323 participants at the highest risk of serious consequences, including adults 30 years of age and older with a BMI of 25 kg/m2 or greater. As a result, if administered directly to a high-risk group with COVID-19, the severe risk could be reduced by more than half. Considering the price of metformin, it was evaluated as a huge effect.
Reporter Jang Bom-i [email protected]
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