Therapeutic Algorithm for Use of Melatonin in Patients With COVID 19
The coronavirus, COVID 19, has infected hundreds of thousands and killed tens of thousands of individuals worldwide. This highly infectious condition continues to ravage the world population and has yet to reach it peak infective rate in some countries. Many conventional drugs including hydroxychloroquine/chloroquine, lopinavir, remdesivir, etc. have been repurposed as treatments for this often deadly disease, but there is no specifically designed effective drug available; also, the drugs mentioned have significant side effects and their efficacy is unknown. New drugs and vaccines are being designed as COVID 19 treatment, but their development and testing will require months to years. Time is not a luxury that this crisis has. Thus, there is a serious unmet need for the identification of currently available and safe molecules which can be used to slow or treat COVID 19 disease. Here, we suggest melatonin be given consideration for prophylactic use or treatment alone or in combination with other drugs. Melatonin's multiple actions as an anti inflammatory, anti oxidant, and anti viral (against other viruses) make it a reasonable choice for use. Melatonin is readily available, can be easily synthesized in large quantities, is inexpensive, has a very high safety profile and can be easily self administered. Melatonin is endogenously produced molecule in small amounts with its production diminishing with increased age. Under the current critical conditions, large doses of melatonin alone or in combination with currently recommended drugs, e.g. hydroxychloroquine/chloroquine, to resist COVID 19 infection would seem judicious.
Frontiers in Medicine