Intravenous administration of a widely used drug to patients with severe COVID-19 has been suggested by scientists as a promising intervention that can significantly improve the burden on the lungs from the disease.

Metoprolol, a drug widely used to treat cardiovascular disease, is effective when given to COVID-19 patients, according to the findings of a study by the National Cardiovascular Research Center (CNIC), published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology (JACC).

The most severe form of COVID-19 is respiratory failure, which requires intubation and is associated with high mortality rates. Pulmonary infection by the coronavirus can develop into acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), in which inflammation and neutrophil hyperactivity play a central role. So far, there are no treatments for COVID-19-related ARDS syndrome.

The research team, therefore, recently discovered that metoprolol, a known beta-blocker, has a particularly high selective effect on overactive neutrophils during stressful conditions such as myocardial infarction. Given the central role of neutrophils in ARDS, the team argued that metoprolol may be an effective treatment for patients with severe COVID-19.

The randomized pilot clinical trial MADRID-COVID examined the effects of intravenous metoprolol in patients with severe COVID-19 due to inflammation of the lungs and respiratory function who had been intubated after ARDS development.

Describing the study process, the research author, said there were 20 patients with COVID-19 randomly selected to be intubated and receive intravenous metoprolol (15 mg daily for three days) and a control group that did not receive the drug. They found that intravenous therapy with this active substance significantly reduced neutrophil infiltration into the lungs and improved oxygenation.

“We have observed that metoprolol treatment in this clinical setting is safe, is associated with a very significant reduction in lung infiltration, and appears to lead to very rapid improvements in patient oxygenation,” the scientists explain.

“Although this was a pilot study and will need to be confirmed in a larger trial, the safety, availability, and robust biological effect of metoprolol could together be enough to consider its use in young patients admitted to the ICU with severe COVID-19,” the researchers further added.

In this context, the researchers suggest intravenous metoprolol as a “promising intervention that could improve the prognosis of severely ill patients due to COVID-19”. 

They also emphasize that it is a safe and economical drug that is already available to the scientific community.

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