Llamas, estrogen and nicotine: The unusual COVID-19 treatments researchers are trying

The antiviral drug remdesivir is the newest drug that doctors will use to help coronavirus patients.

But researchers are still trying all types of treatments until a vaccine is created or cure is found.

That includes antibodies from a llama, nicotine patches, estrogen for men, head lice drugs and inhaling the “mist” from stem cells.

Here’s a look at a few unexpected COVID-19 treatment experiments that researchers are testing as the pandemic continues.

On Monday, the U.S. surpassed 68,000 deaths and 1.1 million coronavirus cases, according to Johns Hopkins University.

Llama antibodies

Could a 4-year-old llama living on a farm in Belgium be a key in fighting coronavirus?

University of Texas researchers teamed up with the National Institutes of Health and Ghent University in Belgium to publish research on antibodies in llamas. They combined two kinds of antibody produced by the animal and early tests show it can block the virus from infecting other cells.

“Vaccines have to be given a month or two before infection to provide protection,” said Jason McLellan, associate professor of molecular biosciences at the University of Texas and a co-author of the study. “With antibody therapies, you’re directly giving somebody the protective antibodies and so, immediately after treatment, they should be protected. The antibodies could also be used to treat somebody who is already sick to lessen the severity of the disease.”

About three years ago, Winter, the llama in Belgium, was “immunized” with the spike protein from viruses that cause SARS and MERS as a 9-month-old. Researchers took blood samples from her and found promise in stopping the SARS virus.

The team created the new antibody by linking two copies of the antibody that worked for SARS — a “cousin” of the coronavirus — and found it neutralized the virus. The research will be published Tuesday in the scientific journal Cell.

Nicotine for coronavirus?

In France, researchers want coronavirus patients to wear nicotine patches to study whether it helps prevent or control the disease.

After finding a lower percentage of smokers with COVID-19 were hospitalized, they theorized nicotine may be attaching to cell receptors and blocking the virus from spreading, AFP reported. So, the researchers want to put nicotine patches on medical workers, infected patients and people in intensive-care units, The Guardian reported.

The treatment method theory counters information from the CDC and FDA that smoking could worsen coronavirus symptoms, and French health officials and the researchers still advise against nicotine use.

Estrogen for male patients

Men with coronavirus will get low doses of estrogen to see if it helps them recover, McClatchy News reported. A clinical trial is underway at Stony Brook University in New York.

Research is showing that men are more likely than women to die from the disease, prompting scientists to study whether low doses of the sex hormone is a viable treatment, WLNY reported.

“We do know females tend to have a better immune response, but the difference was so dramatic that I thought maybe there is a hormonal reason for this,” Antonios Gasparis, a professor at the Renaissance School of Medicine at Stony Brook University, told the news outlet.

Head lice drug for COVID-19

Scientists were cautiously optimistic that ivermectin, an anti-parasitic drug used to treat head lice, could kill the coronavirus, according to a news release from Monash University in Australia.

They found the drug killed virus cells in 48 hours in a cell culture, and now they want to test it in people.

“Ivermectin is very widely used and seen as a safe drug,” Dr. Kylie Wagstaff, who led the study, said in the news release. “We need to figure out now whether the dosage you can use it at in humans will be effective – that’s the next step.”

The FDA emphasized that the virus was killed when exposed to invermectin in a petri dish and hasn’t been tested in humans or animals, McClatchy reported.

Stem cell ‘mist’

In the United Arab Emirates, doctors are taking stem cells from an infected person and turning them into a mist for patients to inhale, McClatchy reported.

All 73 coronavirus patients treated this way were cured of the virus, according to a statement released last week by the UAE Ministry of Health and Prevention. Now the researchers plan to do more trials to determine its effectiveness.

“We’re hopeful,” Dr. Fatima al-Kaabi, head of hematology and oncology at the Sheikh Khalifa Medical City in the UAE, told CNBC. “We’ve seen a favorable outcome.”

This story was originally published May 4, 2020 at 2:56 PM with the headline "Llamas, estrogen and nicotine: The unusual COVID-19 treatments researchers are trying."