Taking a Type 2 diabetes drug when you have coronavirus reduces probabilities of getting lengthy COVID by 40%, a brand new examine has recommended.

Metformin is an affordable drug used to regulate blood sugar in sufferers with Type 2 diabetes.

Scientists within the US have discovered that contributors who took a two-week course inside three days of a constructive check end result have been much less prone to nonetheless have coronavirus signs 10 months later.

The trial, revealed within the Lancet Infectious Diseases journal, was carried out on 1,126 chubby or overweight individuals over the age of 30 between December 2020 and January 2022.

It confirmed that solely 6.3% of contributors given the drug reported a protracted COVID analysis, in contrast with 10.4% of those that took a placebo – 40% fewer.

It is the primary peer-reviewed part three trial exhibiting that taking remedy whereas contaminated may assist stop lengthy COVID.

It helps earlier research that present metformin stops the virus from reproducing in lab circumstances and reduces the probabilities of chubby or overweight individuals being hospitalised or dying from COVID.

There are at the moment an estimated two million people in the UK with lengthy COVID, which suggests they nonetheless reported signs after 4 weeks.

There is not any recognized remedy, though a latest examine by Israeli researchers recommended that most individuals with lingering signs discover they’re gone inside a yr.

‘Urgent’ want to seek out lengthy COVID therapies

Dr Carolyn Bramante, the US examine’s creator of the University of Minnesota Medical School, described the situation as a “significant public health emergency”.

“It may have lasting physical health, mental health and economic impacts, especially in socioeconomically marginalised groups,” she mentioned.

“There is an pressing want to seek out potential therapies and methods to stop this illness.

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“Our study showed that metformin … substantially reduces the risk of being diagnosed with long COVID if taken when first infected with the coronavirus.”

She harassed that it doesn’t present the drug would assist individuals already struggling with lengthy COVID.

Further research on a wider group are but to happen.