COVID-19 patients recover faster with metabolic activator treatment, study shows

Metabolic activators were found to reduce recovery time by as many as 3.5 days in patients with mild-to-moderate Covid-19, according to a Swedish-British study published today in Advanced Science.

The researchers also found that treatment with the metabolic activators improved liver health and decreased the levels of inflammation, as shown by inflammatory markers.

Conducted by researchers at Science for Life Laboratory at KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, in collaboration with the Sahlgrenska Academy in Gothenburg and King’s College, London, the human phase three clinical study showed that patients with mild-to-moderate Covid-19–who were also receiving standard care–experienced a 3.5 day reduction in recovery time when receiving the combination of metabolic activators, nicotinamide riboside (NR), L-serine, N-acetyl-L-cysteine (NAC), and L-carnitine tartrate. All four activators are aimed at improving mitochondrial function. The results of the study build on findings from phase two clinical data.

Through a randomized, placebo controlled, double blind phase three clinical trial, 309 outpatients at Umraniye Teaching and Research Hospital, University of Health Sciences, Istanbul, Turkey were randomly assigned on a 3:1 basis to receive the metabolic activators or placebo. Patients received the combined activators or placebo twice a day for 14 days and clinical status was evaluated through daily telephone check-ins.

“Our phase three data shows that metabolic activators significantly improve the recovery, liver health, and markers of inflammation of patients with COVID-19,” says the study’s lead author, Adil Mardinoglu, professor at KTH and Kings College and research fellow at Science for Life Laboratory.

“Dysfunctional mitochondria have been implicated in worsened progression for Covid-19, and we are pleased to find that the combination of these metabolic activators helps to remedy the stress put on the body of an infected patient.”

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The study was conducted in partnership with Stockholm-based ScandiBio Therapeutics AB and California-based ChromaDex (NASDAQ:CDXC), which provided one of the four ingredients (nicotinamide riboside) through the ChromaDex External Research Program (CERP). Together with the strategic partner Viscoran (Turkey), a submission for drug approval has been submitted to the Ministry of Health in Turkey.