Metformin — a first-line treatment for Type 2 diabetes — significantly lowers the risk of developing long COVID-19 when taken within the first few days of infection, according to new findings from researchers at the University of Minnesota Medical School in Minneapolis.
Researchers set out to determine if early outpatient treatment for COVID-19 with metformin, ivermectin or fluvoxamine is effective at preventing long COVID-19. More than 1,200 participants aged 30-85 were included and randomly chosen to receive either metformin or placebo, with another subset who received ivermectin, fluvoxamine or their placebos. Participants were individuals who qualified as overweight or obese and tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 within three days before enrollment, according to the findings published June 8 in The Lancet Infectious Diseases. More than 1,100 of the participants continued to report their symptoms up to 10 months after their diagnosis.
The metformin group was 40 percent less likely to develop long COVID-19 compared to the placebo group, the findings showed. If taken within four days of symptom onset, the drug cut the risk by 63 percent. The other two drugs were not found to prevent long COVID-19.
"Metformin is an inexpensive, safe and widely used available drug, and its use as a preventive measure could have significant public health implications," said Carolyn Bramante, MD, principal investigator and assistant professor at the University of Minnesota Medical School.
Metformin was selected for the trial after a computer simulator developed by University of Minnesota researchers predicted it would be effective in treating COVID-19, according to a press release.
In the study, the beneficial effect was seen across multiple subpopulations, including infection with different variants.