American and European doctors will be testing the gas, nitric oxide, which gave us the blockbuster erectile dysfunction drug, Viagra, to see whether it can help treat COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus.
Nitric oxide is a gas that helps blood vessels to dilate, increasing the blood and oxygen flow throughout the body.
The doctors are testing the drug to see whether it can provide enough oxygen to the blood vessels in the lungs and help patients with coronavirus by sparing them from requiring ventilators.
In 1992, nitric oxide was named ‘Molecule of the Year’ in the journal Science because of its potential health benefits.
And in 1998, three American researchers won the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine “for their discoveries concerning nitric oxide as a signaling molecule in the cardiovascular system.”
The gas has been used to treat heart defects in newborns. It also helped researchers to discover and develop the little blue pill, Viagra. In addition, it is sometimes given to diabetics who have vascular damage due to low supplies of nitric oxide.
Furthermore, nitric oxide has been found to have antiviral effects against different strains of coronaviruses. A study conducted during the 2002-2003 SARS pandemic found that nitric oxide has some antiviral properties.
A new human trial is now taking place at hospitals in Massachusetts, Alabama, Louisiana, Austria, Italy, and Sweden.
The researchers will ask coronavirus patients to inhale nitric oxide through a CPAP machine for at least 20 minutes a day, twice a day for two weeks.
They hope that the molecule will kill the virus in the lungs, extenuate lung damage, and reduce the use of ventilators.
Lead author of the new trial Dr. Lorenzo Berra said, “It’s a pretty remarkable drug. It has a risk profile that is minimal.” He is a critical care specialist at Massachusetts General Hospital.
Another clinical trial is expected to take place, which would enroll health workers who are constantly exposed to coronavirus patients. Health workers will inhale a high dose of nitric oxide for at least 10 to 15 minutes twice, at the start and the end of every shift.
“We have tremendous confidence this therapy will alter the devastating effects of COVID-19 but we must test it,” said Dr. Keith Scott of Louisiana State University Health, Shreveport. “If results show promise and since this gas is already FDA approved, widespread use could begin immediately.”
