Therapeutic Solutions International Reports Unexpected Findings of Synergy between QuadraMune™ and Diabetes Drug Metformin in Animal Models of COVID-19 Lung Damage

OCEANSIDE, Calif., July 22, 2020

It was discovered that the ability of QuadraMune™ to protect the lungs from inflammation that resembles coronavirus-induced pathology is markedly amplified by concurrent administration of metformin. 

At a mechanistic level, it was shown that metformin increased the ability of QuadraMune™ to:

a) increase the number of "healing macrophages" ("M2" macrophages); 
b) augment production of anti-inflammatory and regenerative proteins; and 
c) suppress production of pathological inflammatory proteins.

"We are currently preparing to conduct a 500-person study evaluating protection from COVID-19 in individuals at high risk of infection, which is listed on the NIH website¹," said Dr. James Veltmeyer, Chief Medical Officer of the Company. "In light of the current findings, we are extremely interested in evaluating outcomes in patients already taking metformin, which is one of the commonly used drugs in elderly populations."

Metformin has previously been shown to possess numerous therapeutic benefits in addition to its activities on diabetes.  Beneficial effects of metformin include stimulation of immune responses², suppression of cancer³, reduction of nicotine withdrawal side effects⁴, and inhibition inflammation⁵.

"It is naïve to believe that therapeutics that we develop will be used in isolation," said Timothy Dixon, President and CEO of the Company. "We are grateful for our scientific advisors who have guided us to perform 'out of the box' experiments in terms of combining QuadraMune™ with clinically relevant companion medications.  We are continuing our journey to develop QuadraMune™ as a science-based nutraceutical, as well as to understand mechanistically its modes of action in order to continually work to improve potential for efficacy."