Amarin Corp Plc (AMRN)

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Here is a sample of the article.

Studies of other cardiovascular drugs include Amarin Corp. ’s plans to test whether its fish oil-derived drug, Vascepa, can prevent or treat Covid-19 infection and reduce the risk of cardiovascular problems in patients who sustained heart damage during their illness. It also wants to test whether the drug, first approved in 2012 to treat adults with very high levels of triglycerides, has antiviral effects.

Amarin says Vascepa may help prevent or treat inflammation caused when the SARS-CoV-2 virus attacks the endothelium, the layer of cells lining blood vessels and the inner walls of the heart chambers. Vascepa is a high-purity prescription form of eicosapentaenoic acid, or EPA, which has been shown to reduce a marker of inflammation, C-reactive protein.


“It quiets down inflammation,” said Deepak Bhatt, executive director of interventional cardiovascular programs at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and an investigator in a pilot study Amarin announced recently to test Vascepa as a treatment on hospitalized Covid-19 patients at the University of Toronto.

Amarin is planning studies elsewhere on health-care workers, people with underlying cardiovascular issues and other types of patients.

Statins, the cholesterol-lowering drugs taken by millions of Americans, have also shown promise as protective agents against serious Covid-19 complications.

Two large studies across several continents have suggested individuals with heart disease who were already taking statins were more likely to survive Covid-19 than those who weren’t taking the medicines, though the drugs’ potential effect hasn’t been directly tested yet.

In a 154-person analysis by researchers in Belgium, elderly patients taking statins were three times as likely to be free of Covid-19 symptoms. The observational study, published last month on a so-called preprint server, hasn’t been peer-reviewed.

Some trials are also studying the effect on Covid-19 patients of antiplatelet drugs, which prevent the formation of blood clots by keeping blood platelets from staying together, and of blood thinners, which are now routinely given at therapeutic doses to Covid-19 patients to prevent blood clots.

Full article link.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.wsj.com/amp/articles/heart-drugs-show-promise-with-covid-19-complications-11591102632