Efficacy of Covexir® (Ferula foetida oleo-gum) treatment in symptomatic improvement of patients with mild to moderate COVID-19: A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial.

The SARS-CoV-2 COVID-19 pandemic has emerged as an unprecedented emergency state in healthcare system and global challenge. In recent decade, the function of exogenous H2 S in the treatment of respiratory diseases has been investigated using H2 S-donor agents. Ferula foetida is a medicinal plant that is traditionally used in respiratory diseases including asthma and viral respiratory diseases. The oleo-gum of this plant is a rich source of several organic sulfides including thiophenes, disulfides and polysulfide derivatives, which can act as H2 S-donor agents. The purpose of this study was to investigate the efficacy of Covexir® (F. foetida oleo-gum) treatment as a rich source of H2 S-donor compounds in clinical presentations of patients with COVID-19. The efficacy of Covexir® was evaluated in a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial in outpatients with COVID-19. Covexir® could significantly inhibit cough when compared to the placebo group (p < .01 and p < 001, respectively). Moreover, there was a significant difference (p < 001) between the two groups in dyspnea symptom at follow-up interval of 7 day after receiving Covexir®. Furthermore, on days 3 and 7, statistically significant differences were observed in myalgia, anorexia, anosmia, and sense of taste severity between two groups. Our findings revealed that Covexir® was very safe in the treatment of COVID-19 patients with mild to moderate symptoms and it can be recommended to improve clinical presentations of patients with COVID-19 such as cough, shortness of breath, myalgia, anorexia, anosmia, and sense of taste.

Antigenotoxic activities of the natural dietary coumarins umbelliferone, herniarin and 7-isopentenyloxy coumarin on human lymphocytes exposed to oxidative stress.

The antigenotoxic effects of umbelliferone (UMB), herniarin (HER) and 7-isopentenyloxy coumarin (7-IP), common natural dietary coumarins, were evaluated on the human lymphocyte DNA damage using single-cell gel electrophoresis. H(2)O(2)-induced DNA break was measured based on the percentage of DNA in tail, and the antigenotoxic effects of the tested compounds were compared with that of ascorbic acid (10, 25, 50, 100 and 200 µM). UMB, HER and 7-IP did not show any genotoxicity, as compared to phosphate-buffered saline. Treatment with UMB, HER and 7-IP led to a significant reduction in the percentage of DNA in tail induced by H(2)O(2) (p < 0.001) at all concentrations. The presence of prenyl moiety in the chemical structure of 7-IP may contribute to its better antigenotoxic property, compared to UMB. The results of this study showed that 7-IP possessed the best antigenotoxic activity among the tested compounds.