Mithra, a company dedicated to Women’s Health, announces its intention to launch a Phase II study program to assess the potential beneficial effect of Estetrol (E4) on Covid-19 infection. E4 is a naturally occurring estrogen produced by the liver of the human fetus, passing in maternal blood at relatively high levels during pregnancy.
Recent epidemiological studies in China, Italy and the United States indicate that Covid-19 affects more men than women and more severely. Italy has suffered four times as many male deaths as female deaths. In the United States, twice as many men as women die from Covid-19. One explanation for this gender disparity is believed to be biological differences in the immune system.
This immuno-sexual difference was already observed with other infectious diseases caused by human coronaviruses, such as Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS). An American study showed that male mice infected with the SARS virus developed more frequent, more severe and often more fatal infections than female mice. In addition, removal of the ovaries or administration of anti-estrogens in females aggravated infection and increased fatalities, demonstrating the protective role played by estrogen. Estrogen acts on a protein known as Angiotensin Converting Enzyme 2 (ACE2) and enables its expression to be reduced. This ACE2 protein specifically serves as a gateway for certain coronaviruses (such as the one that causes Covid-19) to enter human cells...
Full text at GMPnews.Net