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Infectious Disorders - Drug Targets

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ISSN (Print): 1871-5265
ISSN (Online): 2212-3989

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Mini-Review Article

Therapeutic Status of Famotidine in COVID-19 Patients: A Review

Author(s): Moein Mohseni, Vahid Raissi, Yasamin Sharifan, Kimia Barikro, Sasan Amiri, Maedeh Sadat Mohseni, Farid Raeisi, Kimia Masoumi, Sina Khodakarami and Omid Raiesi*

Volume 22, Issue 3, 2022

Published on: 18 February, 2022

Article ID: e070122200096 Pages: 8

DOI: 10.2174/1871526522666220107125511

Price: $65

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Abstract

The novel coronavirus, SARS-coV-2, which emerged in Wuhan in November 2019, has increasingly spread worldwide. More than 272 million cases of infection have been identified. COVID-19 has affected 223 countries and territories across the world. The principal target of the SARS-CoV-2 infection is the lower respiratory tract. Series of moderate to non-specific severe clinical signs and symptoms appear two to fourteen days after exposure to SARS-CoV-2 in patients with COVID-19 disease, including cough, breath deficiency, and at least two of these symptoms: headache, fever, chills, repeated rigor, myalgia, oropharyngitis, anosmia, and ageusia. No therapeutic agents have been validated to have substantial efficacy in the clinical care of COVID-19 patients in large-scale trials, despite worsening infected rates of COVID-19. Early clinical evidence from many sources suggests that treatment with famotidine may decrease COVID-19-related morbidity and mortality. The mechanism by which famotidine could improve the outcomes of COVID-19 is currently unknown. A more recent postulated mechanism is that the effect of famotidine is mediated by histamine-2 receptor antagonism or inverse agonism, inferring that the SARS-CoV-2, resulting in COVID-19 infection, at least partially leads to the abnormal release of histamine and perhaps dysfunction of mast cells.

Keywords: COVID-19, SARS-coV-2, histamine-2 receptor antagonism, famotidine, therapeutic, respiratory syndrome disease.

Graphical Abstract

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