Author:
Maen Abdelrahim,Gok Yavuz Betul,Mohamed Yehia I.,Esmail Abdullah,Lu Jianming,Mohamed Amr,Azmi Asfar S.,Kaseb Mohamed,Kasseb Osama,Li Dan,Gocio Michelle,Kocak Mehmet,Selim Abdelhafez,Ma Qing,Kaseb Ahmed O.
Abstract
Thymoquinone TQ, an active ingredient of Nigella Sativa, has been shown to inhibit COVID-19 symptoms in clinical trials. Thymoquinone Formulation (TQF or NP-101) is developed as a novel enteric-coated medication derivative from Nigella Sativa. TQF consists of TQ with a favorable concentration and fatty acids, including palmitic, oleic, and linoleic acids. In this study, we aimed to investigate the roles of individual ingredients of TQF on infection of SARS-CoV-2 variants in-vitro, by utilizing Murine Leukemia Virus (MLV) based pseudovirus particles. We demonstrated that NP-101, TQ, and other individual ingredients, including oleic, linoleic, and palmitic acids inhibited SARS-CoV-2 infection in the MLV-based pseudovirus model. A large, randomized phase 2 study of NP-101 is planned in outpatient COVID-19 patients.