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After reports that French researchers were planning clinical trials to see if nicotine patches could help prevent the incidence of COVID-19, after research showing that fewer smokers get the disease compared to nonsmokers, the government French has banned online sales of nicotine products for fear of an increase in demand.
In issuing a decree, the country’s health ministry said its goal was to avoid a shortage of products such as gum and nicotine patches that could be used for patients suffering from severe nicotine withdrawal and to prevent abuse of tobacco substitutes. According to the decree, pharmacies cannot sell nicotine patches for more than a month until May 11, when France is expected to ease the closure measures, while online sales are totally prohibited.
The decree came after Pitié-Salpêtrière University Hospital, one of France’s leading medical institutes, announced that a clinical trial was awaiting approval to test nicotine patches as a possible treatment for COVID-19. According to a study in which 483 COVID-19 positive people were questioned, they found that only about 5 percent of them were smokers.
The research comes in the context of a study by the Pasteur Institute, which evaluated 700 teachers and students from a school in one of the regions most affected by the virus, and found that smokers were four times less likely to contract the viruses than non-smokers. The tests found that only 7.2 percent of smokers among those examined had COVID-19, compared to 28 percent of nonsmokers.
The low incidence of smokers who contract COVID-19, in any case, is interesting, since a high percentage of the French population are daily smokers, around 25.4 percent. The Pitié-Salpêtrière study suggests that nicotine could affect the virus’s ability to enter cells, and therefore could have a ‘protective’ effect. However, he admits that the study still cannot confirm the causality of the association, or whether nicotine was the responsible factor.
Renowned French neurobiologist Jean-Pierre Changeux has reviewed the study from the Pitié-Salpêtrière University Hospital and suggests that nicotine, an active ingredient in tobacco, could bind to the same receptors as the coronavirus, making it difficult for the virus to infect to the person. “It should not be forgotten that nicotine is a drug of abuse responsible for tobacco addiction. Smoking has serious pathological consequences and remains a serious health hazard. However, in controlled settings, nicotinic agents could provide effective treatment. for an acute infection like Covid-19, “he writes.
This is in addition to an existing study from China, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, Examining the characteristics of 1,099 COVID-19 patients from 552 hospitals in 30 provinces of China, it was found that only 12.6% of patients were current smokers (compared to the prevalence of smokers in China nationwide, where it is estimated that 52% of all men are smokers). and 2.4 percent of women).
However, current and former smokers were more represented in the set of severe cases. Smokers were more likely to need an ICU or ventilator, and were also more likely to die, than nonsmokers, once they contracted COVID-19.
French Health Minister Olivier Veran commented on the Pitié-Salpêtrière study on France Inter radio on Wednesday, calling it “an interesting possibility” and said more would be known soon. However, he urged the public not to rush and buy nicotine products citing the 70,000 deaths a year due to tobacco use in France. “Be careful, this does not mean that tobacco protects. Tobacco kills,” he said.
Studies of the links between smoking and COVID-19 incidence and mortality rates have so far produced mixed results. The US Food and Drug Administration. USA He warned that smokers may have a “higher risk of infection” and suffer “worse results” after contracting it.
A review of the literature published in Research on nicotine and tobacco Earlier studies were mentioned in early April that found that smoking was related to the severity of a COVID-19 case and those that found no link, and concluded that the sample size, in any case, was too small to make an assessment. inference.
The clinical trial in France, if approved, would provide important information on nicotine as a possible COVID-19 inhibitor.
France had suffered about 22,000 COVID-19-related deaths since the start of the outbreak and has had almost 160,000 cases.
