AUTHOR=Maen Abdelrahim , Gok Yavuz Betul , Mohamed Yehia I. , Esmail Abdullah , Lu Jianming , Mohamed Amr , Azmi Asfar S. , Kaseb Mohamed , Kasseb Osama , Li Dan , Gocio Michelle , Kocak Mehmet , Selim Abdelhafez , Ma Qing , Kaseb Ahmed O. 

TITLE=Individual ingredients of NP-101 (Thymoquinone formula) inhibit SARS-CoV-2 pseudovirus infection

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Pharmacology

VOLUME=15

YEAR=2024

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/pharmacology/articles/10.3389/fphar.2024.1291212

DOI=10.3389/fphar.2024.1291212

ISSN=1663-9812

ABSTRACT=<p>Thymoquinone TQ, an active ingredient of Nigella Sativa, has been shown to inhibit COVID-19 symptoms in clinical trials. Thymoquinone Formulation (TQF or NP-101) is developed as a novel enteric-coated medication derivative from Nigella Sativa. TQF consists of TQ with a favorable concentration and fatty acids, including palmitic, oleic, and linoleic acids. In this study, we aimed to investigate the roles of individual ingredients of TQF on infection of SARS-CoV-2 variants <italic>in-vitro</italic>, by utilizing Murine Leukemia Virus (MLV) based pseudovirus particles. We demonstrated that NP-101, TQ, and other individual ingredients, including oleic, linoleic, and palmitic acids inhibited SARS-CoV-2 infection in the MLV-based pseudovirus model. A large, randomized phase 2 study of NP-101 is planned in outpatient COVID-19 patients.</p>