A new use for two drugs to prevent and treat Covid-19 has been patented

Researchers at UCAM and IMIB have carried out in vitro research using zeaxanthin and kukoamine A to prevent the virus from entering the cell.

The Catholic University of Murcia and the Murcia Institute for Biomedical Research have been granted two national patents for the use of two drugs – previously used to treat other diseases – after demonstrating, through in vitro characterisation, that they could prevent viruses such as SARS-CoV-2 from entering cells. The results of this research have also been published in the scientific journal *International Journal of Molecular Sciences*.

The principal investigator and head of the Bioinformatics group at UCAM, Horacio Pérez, explains that “we have secured these two patents for the separate use of zeaxanthin and kukoamine A, following in vitro trials, pending human trials”. He adds that “these are drugs with a known and safe profile, so there is no cellular toxicity at the proposed doses”.

The team of scientists is currently in contact with pharmaceutical companies to carry out clinical trials in humans, the next step in the study.

In addition to Horacio Pérez Sánchez, the following researchers from UCAM are participating in the study: Carlos Martínez Cortés, Antonio Jesús Banegas Luna, Alfonso Pérez Garrido and Josefina María Vegara Meseguer; and from the IMIB: David Zaragoza Huesca, Julia Peñas Martínez, María Carmen Rodenas, Salvador Espín and Irene Martínez Martínez.