Blood thinner could be used to treat and stop transmission of COVID-19 - Sydney Morning Herald

Patients at four hospitals in NSW and Victoria are set to undergo treatment with a cheap, readily available drug that scientists believe can dramatically improve outcomes for those infected with COVID-19.

Heparin is a common blood thinner that has been in use for decades. Australian National University researchers are coordinating multiple studies aiming to prove it is effective in preventing severe disease among coronavirus patients when inhaled directly into the lungs.

ANU Professor Frank van Haren simulates administering inhaled heparin.Credit:Kate Geraghty

ANU study lead Professor Frank van Haren said initial results indicate the drug could be "a promising treatment" and also "a possible preventative against the virus" with breathing and oxygen levels improving in 70 per cent of patients after they inhaled a course of heparin.

"If it is as effective as our early results suggest, it could have a major impact in our fight against COVID," Professor van Haren said.

Researchers around the world are tracking hospital patients infected with SARS-CoV-2 in 13 countries who were given doses of inhaled heparin, which is administered through an inhaler similar to the ones used to treat asthma.

When the study began, Australia did not have enough people infected with COVID-19 to test the drug on patients here, but now trials are beginning at St George Hospital in Kogarah, the John Hunter Hospital in Newcastle, Sydney's Royal North Shore Hospital and St Vincent's Melbourne.

Patients ill with COVID-19 will be given heparin to inhale as early results show it reduces the severity of the disease. Credit:Kate Geraghty

A randomised, peer reviewed study of 98 patients, to be published in the British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology on Thursday, found heparin was safe, with no concerning side effects among patients who inhaled a therapeutic dose of the drug.

While the larger, ongoing international study would provide a "definitive" answer about the treatment's efficacy, Professor van Haren said the new safety findings were crucial.

"It's super important to know that the new treatment and new way of giving something is actually safe, that it doesn't do any harm," he said. "There is still an urgent need for an effective treatment of COVID-19."

Co-author Professor Clive Page, from King's College London, who is co-leading the global studies, said inhaled heparin had antiviral properties "which work by binding to the spike proteins the coronavirus uses to enter the cells of the body."

"Inhaled heparin effectively stops the virus infecting cells in the lungs and could also stop people from getting the virus from others," Professor Page said.

"It also works as an anti-inflammatory drug; the medicine has the ability to calm everything down when the body is mounting an exaggerated response to the virus."

Professor van Haren said he hoped the drug's efficacy could be proven quickly, saying it could be used widely within months if early results held up – easing the strain on hospitals by reducing the number of patients needing to be admitted to intensive care units.

"Most COVID experts agree that vaccination alone is not going to stop the pandemic. This could really assist in poorer countries where vaccination is challenging and we think it could help frontline workers who could use it as a preventative measure," he said.

Professor van Haren said the team was now collecting more evidence that inhaled heparin worked and that "once we have this evidence, heparin via inhalation, could be an option to treat COVID-19 patients, everywhere, within months".

Heparin, which is normally administered via injection, is a blood thinner used to treat and prevent blood clots across the world and is widely available.

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