Placebo Controlled Trial to Evaluate Zinc for the Treatment of COVID-19 in the Outpatient Setting

Summary

This is a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial to assess the efficacy of zinc in a higher risk COVID-19 positive outpatient population.

Timeline

Start

2020-12-20

Primary completion

2021-02-08

Completion

2021-02-08

Publications

• Background Wu C, Liu Y, Yang Y, Zhang P, Zhong W, Wang Y, Wang Q, Xu Y, Li M, Li X, Zheng M, Chen L, Li H. Analysis of therapeutic targets for SARS-CoV-2 and discovery of potential drugs by computational methods. Acta Pharm Sin B. 2020 May;10(5):766-788. doi: 10.1016/j.apsb.2020.02.008. Epub 2020 Feb 27.
• Background Korant BD, Butterworth BE. Inhibition by zinc of rhinovirus protein cleavage: interaction of zinc with capsid polypeptides. J Virol. 1976 Apr;18(1):298-306. doi: 10.1128/JVI.18.1.298-306.1976.
• Background Katz E, Margalith E. Inhibition of vaccinia virus maturation by zinc chloride. Antimicrob Agents Chemother. 1981 Feb;19(2):213-7. doi: 10.1128/AAC.19.2.213.
• Background Kumel G, Schrader S, Zentgraf H, Daus H, Brendel M. The mechanism of the antiherpetic activity of zinc sulphate. J Gen Virol. 1990 Dec;71 ( Pt 12):2989-97. doi: 10.1099/0022-1317-71-12-2989.
• Background Suara RO, Crowe JE Jr. Effect of zinc salts on respiratory syncytial virus replication. Antimicrob Agents Chemother. 2004 Mar;48(3):783-90. doi: 10.1128/AAC.48.3.783-790.2004.
• Background Eby GA, Davis DR, Halcomb WW. Reduction in duration of common colds by zinc gluconate lozenges in a double-blind study. Antimicrob Agents Chemother. 1984 Jan;25(1):20-4. doi: 10.1128/AAC.25.1.20.
• Background te Velthuis AJ, van den Worm SH, Sims AC, Baric RS, Snijder EJ, van Hemert MJ. Zn(2+) inhibits coronavirus and arterivirus RNA polymerase activity in vitro and zinc ionophores block the replication of these viruses in cell culture. PLoS Pathog. 2010 Nov 4;6(11):e1001176. doi: 10.1371/journal.ppat.1001176.
• Background Singh M, Das RR. Zinc for the common cold. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2013 Jun 18;(6):CD001364. doi: 10.1002/14651858.CD001364.pub4.
• Background Bao S, Knoell DL. Zinc modulates airway epithelium susceptibility to death receptor-mediated apoptosis. Am J Physiol Lung Cell Mol Physiol. 2006 Mar;290(3):L433-41. doi: 10.1152/ajplung.00341.2005. Epub 2005 Nov 11.

Drugs

Indications