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. 2020 Jan-Dec:28:2040206620983780.
doi: 10.1177/2040206620983780.

Gallium maltolate has in vitro antiviral activity against SARS-CoV-2 and is a potential treatment for COVID-19

Lawrence R Bernstein  1 , Leike Zhang  2
Affiliations

Gallium maltolate has in vitro antiviral activity against SARS-CoV-2 and is a potential treatment for COVID-19

Lawrence R Bernstein et al. Antivir Chem Chemother. 2020 Jan-Dec.

Abstract

Background: Gallium has demonstrated strong anti-inflammatory activity in numerous animal studies, and has also demonstrated direct antiviral activity against the influenza A H1N1 virus and the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). Gallium maltolate (GaM), a small metal-organic coordination complex, has been tested in several Phase 1 clinical trials, in which no dose-limiting or other serious toxicity was reported, even at high daily oral doses for several months at a time. For these reasons, GaM may be considered a potential candidate to treat coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), which is caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus and can result in severe, sometimes lethal, inflammatory reactions. In this study, we assessed the ability of GaM to inhibit the replication of SARS-CoV-2 in a culture of Vero E6 cells.

Methods: The efficacy of GaM in inhibiting the replication of SARS-CoV-2 was determined in a screening assay using cultured Vero E6 cells. The cytotoxicity of GaM in uninfected cells was determined using the Cell Counting Kit-8 (CCK-8) colorimetric assay.

Results: The results showed that GaM inhibits viral replication in a dose-dependent manner, with the concentration that inhibits replication by 50% (EC50) being about 14 µM. No cytotoxicity was observed at concentrations up to at least 200 µM.

Conclusion: The in vitro activity of GaM against SARS-CoV-2, together with GaM's known anti-inflammatory activity, provide justification for testing GaM in COVID-19 patients.

Keywords: Coronaviridae; SARS; compounds; replication; virus.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of conflicting interests: The author(s) declared following potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: LRB has applied for a patent that involves the use of gallium to treat coronavirus disease.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Inhibition of SARS-CoV-2 replication in Vero E6 cells by gallium maltolate at several concentrations.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
Viability of Vero E6 cells at several concentrations of gallium maltolate.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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