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IMPORTANCE: Early treatment of mild SARS-CoV-2 infection might lower the risk of clinical deterioration in COVID-19.OBJECTIVE: To determine whether oral camostat mesylate would reduce upper respiratory SARS-CoV-2 viral load in newly diagnosed outpatients with mild COVID-19, and would lead to improvement in COVID-19 symptoms.DESIGN: From June, 2020 to April, 2021, we conducted a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled phase 2 trial.SETTING: Single site, academic medical center, outpatient setting in Connecticut, USA.PARTICIPANTS: Of 568 COVID-19 positive potential adult participants diagnosed within 3 days of study entry and assessed for eligibility, 70 were randomized and 498 were excluded (198 did not meet eligibility criteria, 37 were not interested, 265 were excluded for unknown or other reasons). The primary inclusion criteria were a positive SARS-CoV-2 nucleic acid amplification result in adults within 3 days of screening regardless of COVID-19 symptoms.INTERVENTION: Treatment was 7 days of oral camostat mesylate, 200 mg po four times a day, or placebo.MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES: The primary outcome was reduction of 4-day log 10 nasopharyngeal swab viral load by 0.5 log 10 compared to placebo. The main prespecified secondary outcome was reduction in symptom scores as measured by a quantitative Likert scale instrument, Flu-PRO-Plus modified to measure changes in smell/taste measured using FLU-PRO-Plus. RESULTS: Participants receiving camostat had statistically significant lower quantitative symptom scores (FLU-Pro-Plus) at day 6, accelerated overall symptom resolution and notably improved taste/smell, and fatigue beginning at onset of intervention in the camostat mesylate group compared to placebo. Intention-to-treat analysis demonstrated that camostat mesylate was not associated with a reduction in 4-day log 10 NP viral load compared to placebo. CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: The camostat group had more rapid resolution of COVID-19 symptoms and amelioration of the loss of taste and smell. Camostat compared to placebo was not associated with reduction in nasopharyngeal SARS-COV-2 viral load. Additional clinical trials are warranted to validate the role of camostat mesylate on SARS-CoV-2 infection in the treatment of mild COVID-19.TRIAL REGISTRATION CLINICALTRIALSGOV NCT04353284 04/20/20: ( https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04353284?term=camostat+%2C+yale&draw=2&rank=1 ). KEY POINTS: Question: Will early treatment of COVID-19 with a repurposed medication, camostat mesylate, improve clinical outcomes? Findings: In this phase 2 randomized, double-blind placebo-controlled clinical trial that included 70 adults with early COVID-19, the oral administration of camostat mesylate treatment within 3 days of diagnosis prevented the loss of smell/taste and reduced the duration of illness. Meaning: In the current COVID-19 pandemic, phase III testing of an inexpensive, repurposed drug for early COVID-19 is warranted.

Antiviral therapy is urgently needed to combat the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, which is caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The protease inhibitor camostat mesylate inhibits SARS-CoV-2 infection of lung cells by blocking the virus-activating host cell protease TMPRSS2. Camostat mesylate has been approved for treatment of pancreatitis in Japan and is currently being repurposed for COVID-19 treatment. However, potential mechanisms of viral resistance as well as camostat mesylate metabolization and antiviral activity of metabolites are unclear. Here, we show that SARS-CoV-2 can employ TMPRSS2-related host cell proteases for activation and that several of them are expressed in viral target cells. However, entry mediated by these proteases was blocked by camostat mesylate. The camostat metabolite GBPA inhibited the activity of recombinant TMPRSS2 with reduced efficiency as compared to camostat mesylate and was rapidly generated in the presence of serum. Importantly, the infection experiments in which camostat mesylate was identified as a SARS-CoV-2 inhibitor involved preincubation of target cells with camostat mesylate in the presence of serum for 2 h and thus allowed conversion of camostat mesylate into GBPA. Indeed, when the antiviral activities of GBPA and camostat mesylate were compared in this setting, no major differences were identified. Our results indicate that use of TMPRSS2-related proteases for entry into target cells will not render SARS-CoV-2 camostat mesylate resistant. Moreover, the present and previous findings suggest that the peak concentrations of GBPA established after the clinically approved camostat mesylate dose (600 mg/day) will result in antiviral activity.

Background: Treatment with latency reversing agents (LRA) enhances HIV-1 transcription in vivo but only leads to modest reductions in the size of the reservoir, possibly due to insufficient immune-mediated elimination of infected cells. We hypothesized that a single drug molecule - a novel toll-like receptor 9 (TLR9) agonist, MGN1703 - could function as an enhancer of innate immunity and an LRA in vivo.Methods: We conducted a single-arm, open-label study, where 15 virologically suppressed HIV-1 infected individuals on antiretroviral therapy received 60 mg MGN1703 s.c. twice weekly for 4 weeks. We characterized plasmacytoid dendritic cell, NK -and T cell activation using flow cytometry on baseline and after 4 weeks of treatment. HIV-1 transcription was quantified by measuring plasma HIV-1 RNA during MGN1703 administration.Results: In accordance with the cell-type specific expression of TLR9, MGN1703 treatment led to pronounced activation of plasmacytoid dendritic cells and substantial increases in plasma interferon- 2 levels (p1500 copies/mL (range 21-1571) during treatment.Conclusions: TLR9 agonist treatment in HIV infection has a dual potential by increasing HIV-1 transcription and enhancing cytotoxic NK cell activation, both of which are key outcomes in HIV-1 eradication therapy. ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT02443935.

Combination antiretroviral therapy (cART) has transformed HIV from a deadly to a chronic disease, but HIV patients are still burdened with excess morbidity and mortality, long-term toxicities from cART, stigmatization, and insufficient access to cART worldwide. Thus, a cure for HIV would have enormous impact on society as well as the individual. As the complexity and mechanisms of HIV persistence during therapy are being unraveled, new therapeutic targets for HIV eradication are discovered. Substances that activate HIV production in the latently infected cells have recently received much attention. By turning on expression of latent HIV proviruses, reactivation strategies could contribute to the eradication HIV infection. Compounds that are currently being or soon to be tested in clinical trials are emphasized. The results from these trials will provide important clues as to whether or not reactivating strategies could become significant components of a cure for HIV.

HIV-infected individuals have excess rates of invasive pneumococcal disease. We investigated risk factors for nasopharyngeal pneumococcal colonization at baseline and after 9 months in 96 HIV patients immunized twice with 7- valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine ±1mg CPG 7909. In total, 22 patients (23%) were colonized, 11 at baseline only, four at both baseline and 9 months, and seven at 9 months only. Compared to non-colonized patients, more colonized patients were smokers, had lower CD4+ nadir and had an AIDS-diagnosis. Immunization, antiretroviral treatment and the CPG adjuvant had no impact on colonization. These results suggest preventive strategies in addition to pneumococcal immunization.