The Universidad Católica de Murcia and the Instituto Murciano de Investigación Biosanitaria

(Murcia Institute of Biosanitary Research) have been granted two national patents for the use

of two drugs, hitherto used to treat other diseases, after demonstrating, through in-vitro

characterisation, that they could prevent viruses such as SARS-CoV2 from entering the cell. The

results of this research have also been published in the International Journal of Molecular

Sciences.  

The principal investigator and head of the Bioinformatics group at UCAM, Horacio Pérez, states

that ‘we have obtained these two patents for the separate use of Zeaxanthin and Kukoamine

A, following in-vitro trials, pending human testing.’ ‘The drugs are known to be safe, so there is

no cellular toxicity at the proposed doses,’ he adds.   

The team of scientists is currently in contact with pharmaceutical companies in order to carry

out clinical trials in humans, the next step in the study.  

Other participants in the study include Horacio Pérez Sánchez, Carlos Martínez Cortés, Antonio

Jesús Banegas Luna, Alfonso Pérez Garrido and Josefina María Vegara Meseguer from UCAM,

and David Zaragoza Huesca, Julia Peñas Martínez, María Carmen Rodenas, Salvador Espín and

Irene Martínez Martínez from IMIB (Instituto Murciano de Investigación Biosanitaria).