This content material initially appeared on On a regular basis Well being. Republished with permission.
By Lisa Rapaport
Key Takeaways
- In individuals with COVID-19, metformin decreased coronavirus ranges within the physique 4 instances greater than a placebo tablet.
- There’s proof that metformin may make COVID-19 much less contagious.
- As a result of analysis is restricted, medical doctors don’t but suggest that individuals with COVID-19 start taking metformin.
Metformin, a decades-old generic drug for sort 2 diabetes, might also assist deal with COVID-19, a brand new research suggests.
Scientists on the College of Minnesota randomly assigned greater than 1,300 adults with COVID-19 to take metformin or a placebo tablet. All the individuals took nasal swab assessments for viral ranges after 1, 5, and 10 days.
Lab assessments confirmed that metformin considerably decreased the quantity of COVID-19 virus circulating within the physique and likewise decreased the chances that virus ranges would rebound after an preliminary discount throughout therapy, in line with research outcomes revealed in Medical Infectious Illnesses.[1]
Among the many key analysis outcomes:
- On common, metformin decreased the quantity of virus within the physique virtually 4 instances greater than the placebo tablet.
- Folks taking metformin have been 28 % extra prone to have undetectable ranges of the virus of their physique at both day 5 or day 10 of the research.
- Individuals on metformin have been 32 % much less prone to expertise what’s generally known as rebound — when ranges of the virus initially lower however then turn out to be greater once more.
“The outcomes of the research are essential as a result of COVID-19 continues to trigger sickness, each throughout acute an infection and for months after an infection,” says lead research creator Carolyn Bramante, MD, an assistant professor of medication on the College of Minnesota.
How Metformin Would possibly Combat COVID-19
The metformin research wasn’t designed to determine why or how this diabetes therapy may tamp down the coronavirus. However the drug blocks exercise of a protein generally known as mTOR, Dr. Bramante says. This protein performs a job in cell development and copy and impacts immune responses.
“We hypothesized that metformin’s inhibition of mTOR might trigger a discount in SARS-CoV-2,” the particular sort of coronavirus that causes COVID-19, Bramante says.
Nevertheless, the attainable advantages of metformin as a COVID-19 therapy aren’t but clear, with earlier research yielding conflicting outcomes.
One research of metformin in COVID-19 sufferers discovered that the drug didn’t considerably cut back their odds of being hospitalized with extreme infections, in line with the Nationwide Institutes of Well being (NIH). However the NIH notes that one other research discovered COVID-19 sufferers who took metformin have been 42 % much less prone to be hospitalized with extreme infections or die.[2]
Metformin Could Make COVID-19 Much less Contagious
Nonetheless, the outcomes of the brand new research are notably promising as a result of lowering ranges of the virus circulating within the physique additionally decreases so-called viral shedding, or releasing copies of the virus from the physique that may infect others, says Mark Siedner, MD, MPH, co-author of an editorial accompanying the research and an affiliate professor of medication at Harvard Medical College and Massachusetts Common Hospital in Boston.[3]
“The shorter period of viral shedding, the shorter the period of potential contagiousness and transmission danger,” Dr. Siedner says.
Ought to You Begin Taking Metformin for COVID-19?
Regardless that metformin has potential as an intervention in opposition to COVID-19, it’s not but really helpful for this use. There nonetheless isn’t sufficient proof to prescribe metformin for individuals with milder COVID-19 infections, and the NIH recommends in opposition to utilizing this drug in sufferers hospitalized with extreme infections except they’re a part of a scientific trial.[4]
“Based mostly on the information we now have now, I’d not personally prescribe metformin for therapy of COVID-19, nor would I like to recommend its use,” Siedner says.
