Merit of an Ursodeoxycholic Acid Clinical Trial in COVID-19 Patients

Subbaya Subramanian; Tinen Iles; Sayeed Ikramuddin; Clifford J Steer

doi:10.3390/vaccines8020320

Merit of an Ursodeoxycholic Acid Clinical Trial in COVID-19 Patients

Vaccines (Basel). 2020 Jun 19;8(2):320. doi: 10.3390/vaccines8020320.

Authors

Subbaya Subramanian¹, Tinen Iles¹, Sayeed Ikramuddin¹, Clifford J Steer²

Affiliations

¹ Department of Surgery, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA.
² Departments of Medicine and Genetics, Cell Biology and Development, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA.

Abstract

Corona Virus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) has affected over 8 million people worldwide. We underscore the potential benefits of conducting a randomized open-label unblinded clinical trial to evaluate the role of ursodeoxycholic acid (UDCA) in the treatment of COVID-19. Some COVID-19 patients are characterized with cytokine storm syndrome that can cause severe and irreversible damage to organs leading to multi-organ failure and death. Therefore, it is critical to control both programmed cell death (apoptosis) and the hyper-immune inflammatory response in COVID-19 patients to reduce the rising morbidity and mortality. UDCA is an existing drug with proven safety profiles that can reduce inflammation and prevent cell death. National Geographic reported that, "China Promotes Bear Bile as Coronavirus Treatment". Bear bile is rich in UDCA, comprising up to 40-50% of the total bile acid. UDCA is a logical and attainable replacement for bear bile that is available in pill form and merits clinical trial consideration.

Keywords: COVID-19; Coronavirus; clinical trial; cytokine storm; ursodeoxycholic acid.