Nitric oxide: A possible treatment for COVID-19?

Nitric oxide has played many starring biochemical roles. Now, multiple clinical trials across the US and Canada are testing whether inhaled NO can protect the lungs of people with COVID-19. Researchers think the gas's power to boost oxygen levels in the lungs may speed recovery for people infected with the virus and prevent them for requiring mechanical ventilation. Hints from lab studies also suggest that the gas may have virus-killing properties. ¹ In 2003, during the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) epidemic caused by SARS-COV-1 coronavirus, people in Beijing who received inhaled NO recovered faster than those who didn't get the gas, with treated patients' blood becoming oxygenated and their lungs clearing faster from signs of pneumonia. Follow-up lab studies in cells showed that NO interfered with virus's ability to fuse with host cells and replicate.