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Clinical trials on the effectiveness of amantadine in treating COVID-19 started at the end of May 2021 and are still ongoing. They are headed by prof. Konrad Rejdak, head of the Department and Clinic of Neurology at the Medical University of Lublin. How is the work going? “We do not have enough people at this stage to make the final analysis” – says the scientist.
- Amantadine is an ingredient of drugs used in Parkinson’s disease
- Professors Rejdak and Grieb are the first in the world to publish a clinical report on amantadine and COVID-19
- In late May 2021, clinical trials began to investigate the effectiveness of this compound in the treatment of COVID-19
- More information can be found on the Onet homepage.
Research on amantadine. “Not enough people at the present stage”
Let us recall that in the years 1996-2009 amantadine was widely used in the prevention and treatment of viral influenza A. Currently, it is a component of drugs used in Parkinson’s disease and multiple sclerosis. The ongoing clinical trials will check whether it can be used in the treatment of COVID-19 (after PAP). How is the work going?
– We do not have enough people at this stage to make the final analysis. We need about 200 patients. So far, we have included several dozen patients who met the criteria of the study protocol – Prof. Konrad Rejdak, president-elect of the Polish Neurological Society, head of the Department and Clinic of Neurology at the Medical University of Lublin.
– Earlier last year, we described a series of cases that prove that amantadine may be helpful in treating coronavirus. This work is very popular worldwide as the first clinical report in the literature – it is on the Top Cited List of Multiple Sclerosis and Related Disorders for 2020. People who took amantadine tolerated the infection mildly, says the researcher.
- Amantadine and COVID-19. “The threat of toxicity has no justification here”
– It is a pity that research on the effectiveness of the use of amantadine in the treatment of COVID-19 began only at the end of May 2021. I am glad that, despite everything, the Ministry of Health decided to finance such a study. This is the first study in the world – he emphasizes, adding: – Unfortunately, due to the lack of clinical trials, it was difficult to conclude as to its use in COVID-19. It is known, however, that in our country the drug was taken by tens of thousands of people in the context of infections.
“Vaccination is the best method of prevention (…) However, we need drugs”
Research on amantadine is also carried out in Denmark. In Poland, according to the schedule, they are to end in April 2022 at the latest.
– The sooner we finish it, the better. Vaccinations are the best method of prevention and I strongly encourage you to do so. However we need drugs that will protect people who become infected despite vaccinations or when they have medical contraindications for their use. The point is to save as many infected people as possible – emphasizes prof. Rejdak.
– In our study, we evaluate the effect of the drug on neurological symptoms in the course of COVID-19, which makes it unique in comparison to other studies in this area – he explains.
Medexpress / Martyna Chmielewska
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