Spain’s Biosearch Looks To Probiotics For COVID-19
Executive Summary
Biosearch Life is investigating whether its patented l. coryniformis CECT5711 K8 strain of probiotics could be effective in reducing the incidence and/or severity of COVID-19 infection.
Food supplements containing a particular strain of the probiotic lactobacillus coryniformis could be effective in reducing the incidence and/or severity of COVID-19 infection.
This is the focus of Spanish biotechnology firm Biosearch Life’s new clinical trial project for its product Hereditum Immunactiv K8, which contains the company’s patented l. coryniformis strain CECT5711 K8.
Launched just last week (23 April), the study is being conducted with 320 healthcare professionals working at the Hospital Universitario Clínico San Cecilio in Granada, Spain, who are in regular contact with COVID-19 patients. Biosearch said the results of the trial were expected in the third quarter of 2020.
The first of a series of planned studies, Biosearch said the trial aimed to build confidence in the benefits that l. coryniformis could have against coronavirus – given previous trials that had shown efficacy for the K8 CECT5711 strain against the hepatitis A and influenza viruses (see below) – and widen Hereditum’s range of applications.
“If the benefits of Hereditum are confirmed,” the firm commented, “it would mean an important milestone in the fight against COVID-19 through a preventive strategy based on the reinforcement of the immune system. Hereditum would act as an ally in situations of greater vulnerability and exposure to the COVID-19 virus.”
“The new clinical trials that we are launching with Hereditum are a necessary exercise in responsibility, given the product's history and the opportunity it represents to contribute to the fight against this pandemic,” Biosearch’s CEO Jose Maria Roset added. “At Biosearch Life we are putting all our energy and enthusiasm into this project”.
Previous Trials Show Promise
The first of the clinical trials mentioned by Biosearch as indicating the efficacy of l. coryniformis CECT5711 K8 for viruses tested the strain on 98 nursing home residents over 65 years of age.
Completed in 2016, the randomized, placebo-controlled trial aimed to evaluate the ability of the probiotic strain l. coryniformis CECT5711 K8 to “enhance the immune response to the influenza vaccine in the elderly and to assess the effects on symptoms related to respiratory infections.”
“Elderly people are particularly vulnerable to seasonal influenza,” the researchers noted. “Therefore, vaccination is strongly recommended. However, the vaccine efficacy is lower in the elderly, owing to immunosenescence.”
The researchers found that the administration of l. coryniformis CECT5711 K8 to this elderly population did increase the immune response against the influenza vaccine and decreased symptoms associated with respiratory infections.
“Probiotic administration may be a natural and safe strategy to improve the efficacy of vaccines and to protect against common respiratory infections in susceptible populations,” the authors concluded.
The second study aimed to evaluate the effect of l. coryniformis CECT5711 K8 on the specific immunity of healthy volunteers undergoing vaccination with Hepatitis A virus (HAV).
Explaining the background to the study, the researchers noted that, although the effects of probiotics on the immune system had been extensively evaluated under disease states, their role in healthy situations remained unclear, since changes are hardly expected under immunological homeostasis.
EFSA had indicated that vaccination protocols could be used to evaluate the potential role of probiotics to improve the immune response against antigen challenges, the researchers added.
However, the randomized clinical trial – which involved 123 adults – gave mixed results regarding the usefulness of l. coryniformis CECT5711 K8 supplementation in increasing the antigen-specific antibody response to an immune challenge.
A limitation of the study, the authors considered in the discussion of the trial results, was the “lack of certain additional times and immune measurements, such as innate immunity two weeks after vaccination and regulatory T cells at four weeks post-vaccination, in order to ascertain the role of the lactobacillus strain as an adjuvant for HAV vaccine.”