A treatment for COVID-19 smell, taste loss

Early in the pandemic, around 40% to 50% of COVID-19 patients experienced a loss of smell or taste. Although now less prevalent, some people are still experiencing these symptoms.  

"When the Omicron variants became dominant, the loss of taste and smell started to become less and less common," said Amesh Adalja, an infectious disease specialist at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security. "But it still occurs, and it is a distressing symptom."

Currently, the only COVID-19 treatment that has been shown to alleviate this symptom is molnupiravir, an antiviral drug. However, molnupiravir is typically only available to patients who have the highest risk of severe illness.

Now, new research suggests that another drug called ensitrelvir may also be able to treat loss of smell and taste from COVID-19. The drug, which was developed by Japanese pharmaceutical company Shionogi, is currently only available in Japan where it received emergency approval last year. Unlike molnupiravir, it is not limited to patients with certain risk factors.

In a new clinical trial, patients with mild to moderate COVID-19 symptoms received either 125 or 250 milligrams of ensitrelvir or a placebo. At baseline, 20% of patients reported some level of smell or taste loss, but after the third day of treatment, the proportion of patients reporting that their symptoms were resolving was higher in the ensitrelvir groups than the placebo group.

On day 7, the percentage of participants experiencing smell or taste loss was 39% lower in the group taking the highest dose of ensitrelvir compared to the placebo group. After three weeks, all groups reported similar symptom scores.

The trial's findings were recently presented at IDWeek, a meeting of infectious disease specialists and epidemiologists in Boston, Massachusetts.

"Most people will eventually recover on their own, but we know that some people have had long-term issues with smell and taste," said Yohei Doi, an infectious disease researcher at Fujita Health University in Japan and one of the trial's investigators. (Lenharo, Nature, 10/17)

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