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arXiv · 2004.08491

Is the anti-filarial drug diethylcarbamazine useful to treat COVID-19?

Anuruddha Abeygunasekera·Saroj Jayasinghe
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Abstract

The SARS-CoV-2 virus has resulted in a devastating pandemic of COVID-19. Exploring compounds that could offer a breakthrough in treatment is the need of the hour. Re-positioning cheap, freely available and safe drugs is a priority. The paper proposes evidence for the potential use of diethylcarbamazine (DEC) in the treatment of COVID-19. DEC has inhibitory effects on arachidonic acid metabolism to prostaglandins, little known anti-viral effects on animal retroviruses and demonstrated anti-inflammatory actions in animal models of lung inflammation indicating the need to explore this hypothesis further. We believe this is the first time DEC is being proposed to treat COVID-19.

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Anuruddha Abeygunasekera, Saroj Jayasinghe. 2020-04-18. Is the anti-filarial drug diethylcarbamazine useful to treat COVID-19?. https://arxiv.org/abs/2004.08491

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