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Some drugs having anti-inflammatory may prevent the worst effects of COVID-19 infection – says study

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Covid Vaccines have been shown to reduce COVID-19-related hospitalizations and deaths. However, the scientific community continues to look for therapies that may complement vaccination by further lowering the risk of hospitalizations, respiratory problems, and mortality from COVID-19 infection in at-risk individuals with pre-existing diseases such as diabetes.

A new study published by the Pennsylvania State University’s researchers in the Diabetes journal, suggests that a type 2 diabetes drug may lower hospitalization or death risks if taken in advance before catching COVID.

They also highlighted that type 2 diabetes patients using glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor (GLP-1R) agonists to treat their condition had better health outcomes if they got Covid.

GLP-1R agonists are a family of anti-inflammatory drugs that are often used to treat the swelling of bodily tissue that some diabetics experience.

Patients with type 2 diabetes who took medicine had a 33% lower risk of hospitalization and a 42% lower risk of death within 28 days after COVID-19 infection.

Diabetes patients are at an extremely high risk of Covid-related problems, making these results encouraging for diabetics in the United States.

To do their research, the team collected data from 30,000 type-2 diabetes patients that got Covid infection between January and September 2020.

They compared the rates of GLP-1R agonist use in patients to a control group of approximately 23,000 individuals.

Dulaglutide, exentide, semaglutide, and liraglutide are all GLP-1R agonists.

Anti-inflammatory properties of the drugs help in avoiding some of the most severe symptoms of COVID-19 infection.

Many diabetes drugs are anti-inflammatory, since diabetics often suffer with bodily tissue swelling.

Additionally, the researchers collected data on two other types of anti-inflammatory type 2 diabetes medications: dipeptidyl peptidase-4 (DPP-4) inhibitors and pioglitazone.

While DPP-4 inhibitors decreased the risk of respiratory complications associated with the infection, they had little efficacy to prevent hospitalization or death.

Pioglitazone demonstrated some ability to stop hospitalizations, but only a little amount of power to prevent mortality in the most severe instances.

GLP-1R agonists were the most efficient and the only ones that reduced the risk of mortality by 38%.

The researchers are happy with the results but would want to see more evidence on the drug before deeming it a genuine Covid therapy.

“Further research is needed to confirm whether GLP-1R agonists can protect against severe COVID-19 complications,” said Dr Nazia Raja-Khan, co-author of the study and associate professor of medicine at Penn State, said in a statement.

While the anti-inflammatory effects of the medicine may be beneficial in avoiding severe Covid problems, experts do not suggest it for non-diabetic individuals.

“We absolutely do not recommend that people use medications that have not been thoroughly tested and deemed both safe and effective to treat symptoms of COVID,’ Dr Jennifer Nyland, the co-author of the study told DailyMail in an email.

“We don’t know what this drug does in people who do not have type 2 diabetes.”

If the diabetic meds are approved, they will join molnupiravir, a newly produced drug by Merck that is now seeking emergency use permission, as a treatment that may be given prior to infection to avoid some of the virus’s worst symptoms.

Image Credit: Getty

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