Leprosy drug clofazimine effective in suppressing Covid-19, researchers from Hong Kong, US and Denmark find

HKU infectious diseases expert Yuen Kwok-yung describes finding as ‘exciting’ but says more work will be needed to ascertain the drug’s use

Combating Covid-19 with clofazimine and remdesivir can further boost recovery, researchers write in international scientific journal Nature

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Clofazimine was found to be able to suppress the viral load in the lungs of golden Syrian hamsters infected with Covid-19. Photo: EPA-EFE

Published: 8:45pm, 16 Mar 2021Updated: 12:28am, 17 Mar 2021

A drug that has been used to treat leprosy for decades has also been found to be effective against Covid-19, according to a study by researchers from Hong Kong, the United States and Denmark.

The newly identified use of clofazimine meant that a more affordable and accessible treatment option could be made available in the fight against the coronavirus, which has so far infected more than 120 million people and caused over 2.6 million deaths globally.

Describing the finding as “very exciting”, University of Hong Kong infectious disease expert Professor Yuen Kwok-yung, a member of the research team, said more work would be needed to ascertain the use of the drug.

“The discovery of anti-leprosy drug clofazimine being active against Sars-CoV-2 in test tubes and hamsters is very exciting,” Yuen said.

“But this is just the first step. A randomised phase two/three clinical trial is necessary to know whether it has a place in the treatment of Covid-19.”

Scientists conducting the research believed the discovery of the new function for clofazimine, which was first used in 1969 to treat leprosy, could improve the treatment options for Covid-19.