Here You Go Raf...
BUENOS AIRES, ARG. A clinical trial in Argentina will seek to verify whether prescription fish oil enriched with ethyl-eicosapentaenoic acid (ethyl icosapento), an omega-3 fatty acid, prevents the spread of COVID-19 or reduces the severity of symptoms among personnel of the health highly exposed to the virus, anticipated one of the main researchers.
The study is currently being evaluated by Argentine regulatory authorities for approval. And the protocol contemplates the participation of 1500 healthy or presumed healthy volunteers, who are going to take the medicine (Vascepa, Amarin) or a placebo for two months.
"The expectation is that the risk of contagion will be reduced by at least 30%," Dr. Rafael Díaz, director of Clinical Trials Latin America, who has participated in more than fifty published multicenter clinical trials, told Medscape in Spanish in magazines like The Lancet, The New England Journal of Medicine and Circulation.
"If the results were positive, it would be the most fascinating thing I have ever seen in my life," said Dr. Diaz. "If it costs little, has very few adverse effects, and is widely applicable, it would be a vaccine without being a vaccine."
The study's executive committee chair will be Dr. Deepak Bhatt, a professor of medicine at Harvard University and executive director of the cardiovascular interventions program at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, United States, who led the REDUCE-IT study that found that high doses of ethyl-eicosapentaenoic acid reduce the risk of major cardiovascular events in patients with hypertriglyceridaemia plus cardiovascular disease or diabetes and an additional risk factor.
The new study will add to a list of fifty registered clinical studies in Clinicaltrials.gov that seek to document the efficacy and safety of preventive interventions of COVID-19 with medications, nutrients or vaccines in health personnel.
Most of these studies focus on hydroxychloroquine (alone or in combination with azithromycin, bromhexine, zinc, or vitamins), but there are also others that attempt to evaluate chloroquine, Calmette-Guérin bacillus (BCG) vaccines, or against measles, nitric oxide, vitamin D3, intranasal iodopovidone, melatonin or even lactobacilli, among other interventions. A dozen of these studies are scheduled to take place in Spain, Brazil, Colombia and Mexico.
Biological foundations
Biological foundations
As described by Dr. Díaz, there are three mechanisms of action that could support the usefulness of omega-3 fatty acids, and in particular eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), in the prevention or treatment of COVID-19.
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