Frontiers in Pharmacology (Apr 2022)

Efficacy and Safety of Lithium Treatment in SARS-CoV-2 Infected Patients

  • Carlos Spuch,
  • Marta López-García,
  • Marta López-García,
  • Tania Rivera-Baltanás,
  • J. J Cabrera-Alvargonzález,
  • Sudhir Gadh,
  • Daniela Rodrigues-Amorim,
  • Daniela Rodrigues-Amorim,
  • Tania Álvarez-Estévez,
  • Tania Álvarez-Estévez,
  • Almudena Mora,
  • Marta Iglesias-Martínez-Almeida,
  • Marta Iglesias-Martínez-Almeida,
  • Luis Freiría-Martínez,
  • Luis Freiría-Martínez,
  • Maite Pérez-Rodríguez,
  • Alexandre Pérez-González,
  • Ana López-Domínguez,
  • María Rebeca Longueira-Suarez,
  • Adrián Sousa-Domínguez,
  • Alejandro Araújo-Ameijeiras,
  • David Mosquera-Rodríguez,
  • David Mosquera-Rodríguez,
  • Manuel Crespo,
  • Dolores Vila-Fernández,
  • Benito Regueiro,
  • Benito Regueiro,
  • Benito Regueiro,
  • Jose Manuel Olivares,
  • Jose Manuel Olivares

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3389/fphar.2022.850583
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 13

Abstract

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At the beginning of the pandemic, we observed that lithium carbonate had a positive effect on the recovery of severely ill patients with COVID-19. Lithium is able to inhibit the replication of several types of viruses, some of which are similar to the SARS-CoV-2 virus, increase the immune response and reduce inflammation by preventing or reducing the cytokine storm. Previously, we published an article with data from six patients with severe COVID-19 infection, where we proposed that lithium carbonate could be used as a potential treatment for COVID-19. Now, we set out to conduct a randomized clinical trial number EudraCT 2020–002008–37 to evaluate the efficacy and safety of lithium treatment in patients infected with severe SARS-CoV-2. We showed that lithium was able to reduce the number of days of hospital and intensive care unit admission as well as the risk of death, reduces inflammatory cytokine levels by preventing cytokine storms, and also reduced the long COVID syndromes. We propose that lithium carbonate can be used to reduce the severity of COVID-19.

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