Journal
CLINICAL MEDICINE
Volume 20, Issue 6, Pages -Publisher
ROY COLL PHYS LONDON EDITORIAL OFFICE
DOI: 10.7861/clinmed.2020-0351
Keywords
COVID-19; heparin; SARS-CoV-2; Inhalation; pulmonary coagulation
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Funding
- MWK Baden-Wurttemberg
- Horizon 2020 project Fight-nCoV
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Here, we advocate a highly favourable opportunity for the treatment of COVID-19 disease by repurposing a long-serving medical agent with an excellent history of clinical use, namely heparin. Heparin is best known as an anticoagulant, but it also exhibits direct antiviral activity against many enveloped viruses and has anti-inflammatory activity. The high incidence of thromboembolic events in COVID-19 patients suggests that coagulopathy plays an important role in the SARS-CoV-2 pathogenesis. This already makes heparin a unique, potentially curative agent that can be used immediately to help resolve the ongoing crisis associated with SARS-CoV-2 infection and COVID-19 disease. We demonstrate here in vitro that heparin does indeed inhibit SARS-CoV-2 infection. The three concurrent modes of activity of heparin (antiviral, anticoagulant and antiinflammatory) against SARS-CoV-2/COVID-19 form a unique therapeutic combination. Thus, repurposing of heparin to fight SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19 appears to be a powerful, readily available measure to address the current pandemic.
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