Almost a year into the beginnings of the COVID-19 pandemic and we still do not have a Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved treatment. Current care for COVID-19 patients includes fever-reducing medicines and fluids.
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However, researchers at UC San Diego Health may have some good news regarding cholesterol-lowering medications and its association with decreasing the severity of the disease. Scientists believe that removing cholesterol from the cell membranes prevents the novel SARS-CoV 2 from permeating inside.
Findings were published in the American Journal of Cardiology and describes how patients with COVID-19 who were placed on statins did fairly well then those who weren’t. The science behind it involves statins targeting a molecule found on the surface of human cells, ACE2.
"When faced with this novel virus at the beginning of the pandemic, there was a lot of speculation surrounding certain medications that affect ACE2, including statins, and if they may influence COVID-19 risk," Daniels said. "We needed to confirm whether or not the use of statins has an impact on a person's severity of SARS-CoV-2 infection and determine if it was safe for our patients to continue with their medications."
Source: Science Daily
