Do Common Drugs Affect Responses to COVID-19 Infections?

According to a peer-reviewed study from researchers with the University of Sydney, the most extensive clinical review of immune responses to paracetamol, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, and opioid analgesics focused on infectious diseases provided insights into the unintended impacts of commonly used medicines.

This study's findings highlight the potential for some of these medicines to join the fight against old and new infectious diseases.

Key findings of the clinical review:

• For pain: Morphine suppresses key cells of the immune system and increases the risk of infection, particularly after cancer surgery.
• For fever: Antipyretics – e.g., Paracetamol, Ibuprofen, Aspirin – can reduce the desirable immune response when taken for vaccination.
• Aspirin could be an affordable and accessible therapeutic option for tuberculosis – which mainly afflicts developing countries, with beneficial results shown in animals and humans.
• Anti-inflammatory medicine indomethacin may reduce viral replication in Covid-19, but large-scale human trials are needed.

Researchers led by the University of Sydney's Faculty of Medicine and Health opted for a 'clinical' review to have a broader scope to synthesize the available evidence, noting the importance of further research and trials regarding infectious disease responses.

The research was unplanned and the findings unexpected, stated lead author Christina Abdel-Shaheed, in a press release issued on March 1, 2022.

Although research into these drugs has focused on their effects on pain and fever management, until now, their impact on the treatment of infectious diseases specifically was unclear.

The findings highlight the need for more studies in this under-recognized area of research, with wide-reaching implications.

These researchers disclosed no industry conflicts of interest. Media contact: Vivienne Reiner, University of Sydney: [email protected].