An in vitro assessment of anti-SARS-CoV-2 activity of oral preparations of iodine complexes (RENESSANS)

Altaf, I.; Nadeem, M. F.; Hussain, N.; Nawaz, M.; Raza, S.; Ali, M. A.; Hasan, S.; Matti, N.; Ashraf, M.; Ullah, I.; Aziz, W.; Fazal, S.; Rafique, S.; Adnan, M.; Sardar, N.; Khan, T.; Moavia, M.; Ashraf, S.; Tahir, Z.; Mukhtar, N.; Yaqub, T.

doi:10.1101/2020.06.29.171173

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bioRxiv · 10.1101/2020.06.29.171173

An in vitro assessment of anti-SARS-CoV-2 activity of oral preparations of iodine complexes (RENESSANS)

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Abstract

Since the emergence of CoVID-19 pandemic in China in late 2019, scientists are striving hard to explore non-toxic, viable anti-SARS-CoV-2 compounds or medicines. We determined In Vitro anti-SARS-CoV-2 activity of oral formulations (syrup and capsule) of an Iodine-complex (Renessans). A monolayer of vero cells were exposed to SARS-CoV-2 in the presence and absence of different concentrations (equivalent to 50, 05 and 0.5 g/ml of I2) of Renessans. Anti-SARS-CoV-2 activity of each of the formulation was assessed in the form of cell survival, SARS-CoV-2-specific cytopathic effect (CPE) and genome quantization. With varying concentrations of syrup and capsule, a varying rate of inhibition of CPE, cells survival and virus replication was observed. Compared to 0.5 g/ml concentration of Renessans syrup, 5 and 50 g/ml showed comparable results where there was a 100% cell survival, no CPEs and a negligible viral replication ({Delta}CT= 0.11 and 0.13, respectively). This study indicates that Renessans, containing iodine, may have potential activity against SARS-CoV-2 which needs to be further investigated in human clinical trials.

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Altaf, I., Nadeem, M. F., Hussain, N., Nawaz, M., Raza, S., Ali, M. A., Hasan, S., Matti, N., Ashraf, M., Ullah, I., Aziz, W., Fazal, S., Rafique, S., Adnan, M., Sardar, N., Khan, T., Moavia, M., Ashraf, S., Tahir, Z., Mukhtar, N., Yaqub, T.. 2020-06-29. An in vitro assessment of anti-SARS-CoV-2 activity of oral preparations of iodine complexes (RENESSANS). https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.06.29.171173

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