Pandemic Covid-19 pneumonia, of SARS-CoV-2 aetiology, is of global importance to health systems, national economies and individual civil liberties. Multiple therapeutic and prophylactic agents are currently undergoing clinical trial and, while progress towards a curative agent is promising, the principal limiting factor in public health emergency is time. A pre-existing licensed therapeutic would offer reprieve to international citizens currently enduring the adverse consequences of lockdown policies. This brief communication serves as an update on the initial version of the acquired acute porphyria hypothesis and advocates for direct testing of the hypothesis.