Clofazimine as a potential drug for the treatment of COVID-19 disease

In a study published in Nature on March 16, 2021, researchers tested
clofazimine, an anti-leprosy drug, on hamsters infected with the SARS-CoV-2
virus, which are used as an animal model for COVID-19. The researchers
found that clofazimine reduced the amount of virus in the lungs. The
study also included giving clofazimine to healthy animals before infection
with the virus. The drug reduced lung damage and prevented the
“cytokine storm” that occurs as an excessive inflammatory response to
SARS-CoV-2, which can be fatal.

Clofazimine as a potential drug for the treatment of COVID-19 disease was
initially identified by a computational screening of more than 12,000 drugs
from the ReFRAME collection – the most comprehensive drug repurposing
collection approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

The advantages of clofazimine for the treatment of COVID-19 is that it is
safe, affordable, its synthesis is simple and inexpensive, it is taken as a
tablet and can be made globally available in a short time. It is also
listed on the World Health Organization’s List of Essential Medicines.

Assist. Prof. Aleksandra Maršavelski, PhD
Specialist in computational biochemistry