Italy to start trials of osteoporosis drug to treat Covid-19

ITALY is set to start trials of an osteoporosis drug in order to treat Covid-19 after Italy’s main medicines regulator gave the go-ahead on Tuesday, October 27.

Human trials on osteoporosis drug, Raloxifene, have been cleared after researchers using supercomputers highlighted the drug as a potential match to help reduce Covid-19 symptoms and make patients less infectious.

More than 400,000 molecules were screened for chemical characteristics that might inhibit the virus, which focused on those already approved for use in humans and could be used in clinical trials in the hopes it will be able to treat Covid-19.

Italy is set to start the initial phase of trials, of the osteoporosis drug, in over 450 hospitals, and with home patients at Rome’s Spallanzani Hospital and Humanitas in Milan.

They will be given a seven-day treatment of raloxifene capsules in a randomised sample and 174 more people may be added in the final stage.

Enrolment will last 12 weeks.

Marco Allegretti, head of research at Dompé Farmaceutici, said about the drug: “It inhibits virus replication, thus preventing the worsening of patients with mild symptoms, and also decreases infectivity, limiting the viral load.”


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Written by

Matthew Roscoe

Originally from the UK, Matthew is based on the Costa Blanca and is a web reporter for The Euro Weekly News covering international and Spanish national news. Got a news story you want to share? Then get in touch at editorial@euroweeklynews.com.

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