The novel corona virus Covid-19 has caused a massive pandemic with large number of fatalities in many countries and is shortly expected to reach the devastating levels of the 1918 influenza pandemic (1). No proven effective treatments have yet been discovered to treat the viral pneumonia caused by Covid-19, although a few drugs have shown some promise. Covid-19 is caused by SARS-CoV-2 virus which is an enveloped positive sense RNA virus with an unusually large RNA genome. Other drugs active against SARS-CoV-2 are actively studied, such as protease inhibitors. But drugs with distinct and varied mechanisms of action are needed to propose efficient drug combinations. Here we propose an innovative approach based on the use of the saponin drug glycyrrhizin, which we believe can be useful to combat the virus infection and to treat the associated respiratory symptoms. We searched for a drug that could not only inhibit viral replication but also interfere with the entry of the virus into cells. On the one hand, we reasoned that an amphiphilic compound like a saponin could interfere with the virus entry into cells, owing to the well-known membrane effects of this class of compounds. On the other hand, we considered that a target associated to “danger-signals” in cells, like HMGB1, could be a useful to trigger an immune response. At present, there are no specific antiviral drugs or vaccine against COVID-19 infection for potential therapy of humans. In desperate times like today’s, it will be worthwhile testing – SHIRO KLOMAN as supplimentary treatment for the corona virus infected patients.

SHIRO KLOMAN can be easily combined with many types of drugs, either to promote solubilization and bioavailability of the co-transported product as discussed above, or to complement its mechanism of action leading to synergistic effects in some cases.