Cell Discovery (Dec 2020)

Calcium channel blocker amlodipine besylate therapy is associated with reduced case fatality rate of COVID-19 patients with hypertension

  • Lei-Ke Zhang,
  • Yuan Sun,
  • Haolong Zeng,
  • Qingxing Wang,
  • Xiaming Jiang,
  • Wei-Juan Shang,
  • Yan Wu,
  • Shufen Li,
  • Yu-Lan Zhang,
  • Zhao-Nian Hao,
  • Hongbo Chen,
  • Runming Jin,
  • Wei Liu,
  • Hao Li,
  • Ke Peng,
  • Gengfu Xiao

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41421-020-00235-0
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 6, no. 1
pp. 1 – 12

Abstract

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Abstract The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) caused by the novel severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has now spread to >200 countries posing a global public health concern. Patients with comorbidity, such as hypertension suffer more severe infection with elevated mortality. The development of effective antiviral drugs is in urgent need to treat COVID-19 patients. Here, we report that calcium channel blockers (CCBs), a type of antihypertensive drug that is widely used in clinics, inhibited the post-entry replication events of SARS-CoV-2 in vitro, while no in vitro anti-SARS-CoV-2 effect was observed for the two other major types of antihypertensive drugs, namely, angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors and angiotensin II receptor blockers. CCB combined with chloroquine showed a significantly enhanced anti-SARS-CoV-2 efficacy. A retrospective clinical investigation on hospitalized COVID-19 patients with hypertension as the only comorbidity revealed that the CCB amlodipine besylate therapy was associated with a decreased case fatality rate. The results from this study suggest that CCB administration to COVID-19 patients with hypertension as the comorbidity might improve the disease outcome.