MUST READ! COVID-19 Treatment: Calls For Research Into SOD-3, Artemisia Annua And Ashwagandha As Possible Adjuvant Drugs For COVID-19

COVID-19 Treatment: To date there are still no proven effective drugs or antivirals to treat COVID-19 or some of its accompanying  symptoms such as the cytokine storms, blood clotting issues and the damage to epithelial cells etc.


sweet wormwood or Artemisia annua.

The public and medical community has been flooded with lots of misinformation that has been orchestrated by governments and also pharmaceutical companies. The media, social media platforms, fact checkers, medical journals and even certain unethical medical researchers have been bought by some of these governments and pharmaceutical giants to propagate unproven and dangerous drugs like Chloroquine and Hydroxychloroquine. One pharmaceutical giant has been spending lots of money on PR, lobbying researchers and medical journals etc to promote its unproven drug. It is also shocking to see that the US FDA has approved Remdesivir as a drug for COVID-19 despite the fact that there is no real scientific data to show how it really works against the virus on a cellular level. The only data they are using is that it shortens hospitalization stays! One can even feed bananas to COVID-19 patients and make the same inferences and get bananas approved as a drug for COVID-19 using the US FDA pathetic standards these days! It should also be noted that no detailed safety studies have been conducted on Remdesivir so far and Gilead itself does include a caveat stating so in small print. https://www.statnews.com/2020/05/11/inside-the-nihs-controversial-decision-to-stop-its-big-remdesivir-study/ and https://www.statnews.com/2020/05/22/covid-19-study-details-benefits-of-treatment-with-remdesivir-and-also-its-limitations/ and https://www.dw.com/en/coronavirus-remdesivir-is-no-miracle-cure/a-53326847 and https://www.france24.com/en/20200501-covid-19-after-conflicting-studies-effectiveness-of-remdesivir-still-in-question and https://thehill.com/homenews/news/499323-remdesivir-alone-not-enough-to-treat-covid-19-study-says
 
While in drug repurposing studies, many new candidates have emerged to be able to suppress viral replication of the SARS-CoV-2 to a certain degree only and also to prevent cytokine storms, some never proceeded into further research either due to lack of funding or due to efforts by the big pharmaceutical giants to prevent them from stealing the spotlight.
 
Then again, in some of the treatment protocols that are being tested there is s till not much data to prove whether it is the right strategy. For instant in the case of the severe cytokine storms associated with COVID-19, there is now an emerging debate whether immunosuppressant drugs should be used to totally stop the immune response and inflammatory responses instead of using drugs that maintain a proper homeostatic immune balance.
 
There are studies to show that immunosuppressants can lead to sepsis and deaths in individuals infected with pathogens. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6139715/ or https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5949419/ or https://iv.iiarjournals.org/content/32/6/1653.full
 
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This where an interesting candidate comes in and more research is needed to see if it could help in COVID-19.  We are talking about SOD3.
 
Superoxide dismutase 3 or SOD3 is an enzyme that in humans is encoded by the SOD3 gene. This gene encodes a member of the superoxide dismutase protein family. SODs are antioxidant enzymes that catalyze the dismutation of two superoxide radicals into hydrogen peroxide and oxygen. The product of this gene is thought to protect the brain, lungs, and other tissues from oxidative stress.
 
Interestingly SOD 3 has been used for lung health and also has properties to better regulate the immune and cytokine response systems through proper homeostasis. https://www.liebertpub.com/doi/10.1089/ars.2020.8111 or  https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/biochemistry-genetics-and-molecular-biology/sod3 or https://respiratory-research.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12931-018-0933-6 or https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4075061/
 
We then have another interesting herbal candidate called sweet wormwood or Artemisia annua. Initially originating from China but now being cultivated extensively in the US and also in Madagascar, the plant has certain anti-malarial properties and also antiviral properties.
 
Past studies have showed certain degree of efficacy as an antiviral against the SARS virus of 2003. https://www.hdbiosciences.com/Download/Identification%20of%20natural%20compounds%20with%20antiviral%20activities%20against%20SARS-associated%20coronavirus.pdf and https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2742655/ and https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00726-006-0403-1
 
There is currently a major research and trial that is about to be started by German Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces to test its efficacy against the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus.
 
The herb is currently recklessly being touted as a miracle cure for COVID-19 in Madagascar without proper research and studies. Wrong usage of the herb can result in malaria resistance.Organic supplements of the herb taken in the wrong way can also cause Liver issues.
 
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Artemisinin, a phytochemical extracted from the herb is the cornerstone of so-called artemisinin-based combination therapies, which have helped bring down malaria deaths from more than 1 million to about 400,000 every year in Africa according to Dr  Kevin Marsh from University of Oxford, who spent decades studying malaria in Kenya. “We totally depend on artemisinin for malaria in every country of the world, so we are very worried about resistance,” Dr Marsh says especially in Africa, where 90% of the world’s malaria deaths occur.
 
In order to prevent resistance taking hold, most artemisinin-based malaria treatments include a second antimalarial drug, so that if the parasite develops resistance to artemisinin, the other drug will still kill it.
 
The World Health Organization (WHO) strongly discourages countries from using artemisinin to treat malaria on its own as a “monotherapy,” because it could hasten the development of drug resistance. An October 2019 WHO report also recommended against the use of the Artemisia plant to treat or prevent malaria. Yet a flood of Artemisia-based COVID-19 treatments would amount to massive monotherapy use, Dr Marsh says.
 
There are some hints that artemisinin might have an effect against SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. In 2005, Chinese scientists reported that an alcoholic extract from Artemisia annua was able to neutralize its cousin, the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) virus, in a petri dish. (The extract was never tested against SARS in animals or humans, however.) https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0166354205000690
 
Hence it only makes sense to dedicate more research into this herb as a possible treatment for COVID-19 but with caution on how it is used.
 
The last candidate we are bring up here is the herb that has long been used in traditional Indian Ayurvedic medicine and is called Ashwagandha or Withania somnifera.
 

Ashwagandha or Withania somnifera

There were some pre-prints non-peer reveiewed studies that indicated that it could have certain antiviral proeprties against COVID-19 . https://www.researchsquare.com/article/rs-17806/v1.
 
Pasts studies have shown that it has certain anti-inflammatory properties. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0975357512800538 and https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24188460/ and https://www.spandidos-publications.com/10.3892/ijmm.2018.3608 and https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.3109/13880209.2013.835325
 
There are also studies showing its antiviral properties. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25627548/  and https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Tanuj_Ambwani/publication/265799406_Antiviral_activity_of_Ashwagandha_extract_
on_Infectious_Bursal_Disease_Virus_Replication/links/54b67f190cf2bd04be321779/Antiviral-activity-of-Ashwagandha-extract-on-Infectious-Bursal-Disease-Virus-Replication.pdf and https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/nursing-and-health-professions/withania-somnifera and https://www.hindawi.com/journals/isrn/2013/153427/ and https://scialert.net/fulltext/?doi=jbs.2014.77.94
 
Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi (IIT-D) and National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, Japan in a collaborative study discovered that Ashwagandha may hold an efficient natural compound that could be effective in developing a drug for the coronavirus.
 
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The researchers discovered that Withanone (Wi-N), a natural compound derived from Ashwagandha (Withania somnifera) and Caffeic Acid Phenethyl Ester (CAPE), an active ingredient of New Zealand propolis, has the potential to interact with and block the activity of Mpro of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus.
 
The research findings are being reviewed and have yet to have been published yet. But even then, more studies would be required by research entities around the world to explore the merits if any of ashwagandha to help treat COVID-19.
 
While the bigger pharmaceutical companies are busy trying to promote expensive drugs that are already in their inventory for profit-orientated purposes, medical researchers around the world should also focus on cheaper and non-patented alternatives that could have efficacy to treat COVID-19 and its accompanying symptoms in a non-toxic , safe-proof, cheaper and efficient manner.

Readers are warned not attempt to consume any of the mentioned products to treat COVID-19 or any of its symptoms. If you suspect that you might have COVID-19, immediately report to the health authorities or to the nearest hospital. Never try to self-treat and all these compounds even when research have demonstarted they have any efficacy against COVID-19 should only be taken under the supervison of a qualified and licensed medical doctor.
 
For more on COVID-19 Treatments and research, keep logging to Thailand Medical News.
 
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