A common, inexpensive drug could save the lives of seriously ill COVID-19 patients, and fight serious respiratory infections such as pneumonia, a new study from the Australian National University has found.
The drug, heparin, is traditionally injected to treat blood clots — but inhaling it halves the risk of hospitalised patients needing a ventilator, and significantly reduces their chance of dying, the researchers found.
“We know it’s only a matter of time until the next pandemic, and there are still COVID-19 patients who get very sick,” study co-leader Professor Clive Page, from King’s College in London, said. “This is a great weapon to have up our sleeve.”
Heparin is anti-viral, anti-inflammatory, and anti-coagulant, and no other drug has that combination, Professor Paget said. It is a pathogen agnostic drug: it works whether viruses or bacteria cause the respiratory infection.
“It doesn’t matter what kind of respiratory infection the patient is dealing with; when inhaled, the drug will stop it from infecting the patient and damaging the lungs,” the study’s lead author, ANU Professor Frank van Haren, Director of the Intensive Care Unit at St George Hospital in Sydney, said.
In the early stages of the pandemic, the researchers conducted a trial involving almost 500 patients from six countries. All had been hospitalised with COVID-19, but were not yet sick enough to require a breathing machine, Professor van Haren said. Heparin was effective in treating COVID-19. Earlier tests showed their breathing and oxygen levels improved when they inhaled heparin.
The team is designing an improved formulation of heparin to be inhaled.
The researchers intend to conduct another trial in Europe to confirm heparin’s effectiveness in fighting other common respiratory infections such as influenza and RSV.
The researchers believe the drug would also help those with a compromised immune system, such as cancer patients, who develop a respiratory infection.
“And because it’s inexpensive, it’s much more accessible for those from low-income countries,” Professor van Haren said.
