FDA approved calcium channel blockers inhibit SARS CoV 2 infectivity in epithelial lung cells

Covid-19 has infected more than 14 million people worldwide causing over 600.000 deaths. The disease is caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (CoV) 2 (SARS-CoV-2), which shares a high sequence similarity to SARS CoV. Currently there are no vaccinations available to provide protection and the only antiviral therapy in active use in patients is remdesivir, which currently provides only limited benefit. Hence, there is an urgent need for antiviral therapies against SARS CoV 2. SARS CoV requires Ca ions for host cell entry and based on the similarity between SARS CoV and SARS CoV 2 it is highly likely that the same requirements exist for the two viruses. Here, we tested whether FDA-approved calcium channel blocker (CCB) drugs are efficacious to inhibit the spread of SARS CoV 2 in cell culture. Our data shows that amlodipine, felodipine and nifedipine limit the growth of SARS CoV 2 in epithelial kidney (Vero E6) and epithelial lung (Calu-3) cells. We observed some differences in the inhibition efficacy of the drugs in the two different cell lines, but with felodopine and nifedipine having the greatest effect. Overall, our data suggest that CCBs have a high potential to treat SARS CoV 2 infections and their current FDA approval would allow for a fast repurposing of these drugs.