Healthcare professionals usually prescribe metformin drugs to treat people with diabetes. Even though this is prescribed to treat diabetes, it is effective in reducing the risk of COVID-19 reinfection. A recent study conducted by researchers from the University of Minnesota has proved that the metformin drug can effectively reduce the amount of the virus present in the body and reduce the chances of its development again after treatment. Â
In the study published in Clinical Infectious Diseases, researchers involved 1323 people with COVID-19. These participants were asked to take the metformin drug and then compared with people who took drug named placebo pills. Â
When researchers observed the collected data thoroughly, they found that the people who took metformin drugs had very less amount of virus in their bodies after 10 days as compared to the people who took placebo pills. They also noticed that the metformin drug had reduced the risk of reinfection of COVID-19. Researchers of this study say that if we give metformin drug to people who recently got COVID-19, it can help them reduce the amount of virus in their nose and stop it from coming back strong.Â
One of the researchers says that the risk of having long-lasting COVID-19 symptoms and hospitalization within 28 days was very low as it was 41% and 58% respectively. Even though the results are positive, there is a need to understand more about it as researchers do not know how well metformin works for people who had COVID-19 before. Â
In this study, researchers used a computer program to check whether the metformin drug works effectively against COVID-19. This computer program also helped them understand that other drugs such as hydroxychloroquine do not work effectively against COVID-19. Â
The results of this study clearly show that the metformin drug can effectively reduce the amount of the virus in the body. So, healthcare professionals should make some effective strategies to reduce the risk of COVID-19 reinfection by using metformin drug. This research will help healthcare professionals to save many lives suffering from COVID-19. Â
Reference Link:Â
Carolyn T Bramante et al, Favorable Antiviral Effect of Metformin on Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 Viral Load in a Randomized, Placebo-Controlled Clinical Trial of Coronavirus Disease 2019, Clinical Infectious Diseases (2024).Â
