Therapeutic potential of ibuprofen inhalation for COVID-19 pneumonia: Report of two first cases

Abstract

No specific and effective antiviral treatment has been approved for COVID-19 so far. Systemic corticosteroid and remdesivir have shown to decrease mortality in COVID-19 patients, but mortality still is elevated. We propose that nebulized hypertonic ibuprofen solu- tion which has bactericidal, virucidal, mucolytic and anti-inflamma- tory properties to be used for COVID-19 pneumonia and prevent the classical evolution to respiratory failure and mechanical respiration. We report here the first two cases of the COVID-19 pneumonia suc- cessfully treated with nebulized hypertonic ibuprofen solution (NaI- HS). Rationale of the treatment is to mitigate the local inflammation with inhaled NIH that stays in the lung and may inhibit proliferation of the virus, inflammation and successfully reverts the hypoxia ob- served in these clinical cases. Mild adverse events were observed. Larger and further studies are warranted to confirm the result of these cases.