Now, a Danish laboratory study has published results suggesting that atovaquone has a protective effect against coronavirus in human lung cells. Atovaquone is part of the antimalarial MalaroneTrusted Source, which doctors have used for the treatment and prevention of malaria since 1999.

Speaking to Medical News Today, Dr. William Schaffner, a professor of infectious diseases at the Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN, welcomed the study: “Everybody’s excited when a drug that’s been in use before [looks promising in the laboratory] because obviously, we have a great deal of clinical experience to back it up. It’s already licensed. But now we have to see if it really does work in people. That’s a giant step.”

The study by a team at Aarhus University found that atovaquone blocked infection from Alpha, Beta, and Delta variants of COVID-19 in human lung cells in vitro.

However, Dr. Schaffner urged caution: “Of course, it’s a laboratory study. Which means it is provocative but early. I hate to put it in the same category, but [I] was just thinking of another study that looked good in the lab but fizzled — the hydroxychloroquine studyTrusted Source.”