Opko Health Inc (OPK)

[Femto99]

Calcifediol and corticosteroids, the latest prescription against Covid-19

The Reina Sofía Hospital has shown in a first study that the administration of calcifediol , a drug prescribed for other diseases that have nothing to do with Covid-19 (generally bone ailments) , helps alleviate the most serious consequences of infection by the coronavirus.

One of the authors of the study, José Manuel Quesada - investigator of the Imibic - clarifies that the calcifediol does not prevent contagion nor cure the disease. What it does, he explains, is to turn Covid-19 into “a minor disease such as the flu, a not too serious viral phenomenon. It makes you go through a few bad days but it doesn't kill you ».

To understand how calcifediol works , you first need to know a term that is often mentioned, but not always well understood, during the pandemic: "cytokine storms . " In severe cases of Covid-19 infection, what kills or leads a patient is not the virus, but - strange as it sounds - the person's own body.


On certain occasions, and without really knowing the reasons, the immune system overreacts to the presence of a foreign body such as the Covid-19 coronavirus (it also does so with other pathogens). It kills the virus, but also healthy tissue. It's like killing flies with cannon shots : in the end you end up hitting who you shouldn't.

What are cytokines?
Cytokines play an essential role in this process. They are varied proteins that the immune system generates to carry out different tasks. One of them is to direct the immune cells , our "soldiers" in case of attack, to the exact place where the problem is. They also activate or deactivate tissue inflammation , a natural response of the human body to an attack. If things get nasty, they can command immune cells to make more cytokines to intensify the response.

Under normal conditions, that cycle is always under control. But on rare occasions, the immune system goes haywire and nothing stops the production of these proteins, which end up accumulating in vital tissues and organs. That's a "cytokine storm." The researcher Quesada describes its effects on Covid-19 patients as follows: "It is so brutal that the lungs get flooded and as oxygen does not enter the lungs, people go to the ICU" to be able to stay alive.

This is where calcifediol comes into play . One of its effects is, indicates Quesada, "to prevent an exaggerated response from the immune system." What this drug does is therefore not to enhance the natural defenses of the human being, but to "modulate" them. And that is "the key", continues the researcher: " We have hit the right key but we will have to continue investigating."

Until now, calcifediol had been used in combination with azithromycin , a broad-spectrum antibiotic that, like all antibiotics, alone is of no use against a viral attack. But it had been used to treat certain respiratory conditions in combination with other substances. "Of every 100 people with our treatment, only three went to the ICU, while among those who did not take it, 50 percent were admitted ", recalls the researcher.

A new way
This situation has changed and, as José Manuel Quesada points out, research is focused on using calcifediol with what in medical jargon is called "the best available treatment" , which are now corticosteroids , powerful anti-inflammatory drugs that limit adverse effects of the "cytokine storm." In combination with the drug tested by the Reina Sofía, an adequate immune system response could be achieved for Covid-19.

Now it remains to show that this combination of calcifediol and corticiodes works, for which "we will need a very large number of patients " in a later phase of the study, clarifies the Imibic researcher . Like everything in science, it is necessary to test and experiment before giving a result for certain, but Quesada is confident that calcifediol will end up being part of the definitive cocktail of drugs against Covid-19 while waiting for the vaccine.

https://sevilla.abc.es/andalucia/cordoba/sevi-coronavirus-cordoba-colcifediol-y-corticoides-ultima-receta-contra-covid-19-202010021949_noticia.html#vca=mod-sugeridos-p2&vmc=relacionados&vso=calcifediol-y-corticoides-la-ultima-receta-contra-el-covid-19&vli=noticia.foto.andalucia