Other substances

Berberine

An alkaloid antibiotic and antifungal.

Phase of research

Potential treatment - pre-clinical evidence

How it helps

Antiviral

Drug status

Used to treat other disease

Supporting references

Contradictory references

AI-suggested references

Clinical trials

General information

Berberine is a plant-derived alkaloid. It was suggested to be active against the late stages of SARS-CoV-2 life cycle (Varghese et al., 2021).

Berberine on DurgBank
Berberine on PubChem
Berberine on Wikipedia

Synonyms

Umbellatine; Berbericine

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Supporting references

Link	Tested on	Impact factor	Notes	Publication date
In silico investigation of phytoconstituents from Indian medicinal herb ‘Tinospora cordifolia (giloy)’ against SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) by molecular dynamics approach 3CLpro Small molecule In silico	in silico	3.31	Predicted to inhibit the SARS-CoV-2 3C-like protease.	Aug/07/2020
Berberine and Obatoclax Inhibit SARS-Cov-2 Replication in Primary Human Nasal Epithelial Cells In Vitro Small molecule In vitro	Vero E6 cells; human primary nasal epithelial cells; SARS-CoV-2 isolates BetaCoV/Munich/BavPat1/2020 and SARS-CoV-2/human/NLD/Nijmegen1/2020	3.82	The compound inhibited SARS-CoV-2 in Vero E6 cells in a dose-dependent manner with an EC50 of 9.1 μM and a SI of >16 for BavPat1 isolate. For Nijmegen1 isolate, it inhibited infection with an EC50 of 23.2 μM or 43.3 μM when assessed via supernatant or intracellular viral RNA levels, respectively. A plaque assay resulted in an EC50 of 2.1 μM in the same isolate. The ratio of viral RNA copy number to infectious viral particles number increased in a dose-dependent manner. These observations were hypothesized to result from the compound’s activity in late stages of viral life cycle, after viral genome replication and viral particle secretion. In the nasal epithelial cell model, berberine was effective in inhibiting SARS-CoV-2 (BavPat1) infection with an EC50 of 10.7 μM and an SI of 8.1.	Feb/11/2021
A small molecule compound berberine as an orally active therapeutic candidate against COVID‐19 and SARS: A computational and mechanistic study ACE2 TMPRSS2 Small molecule In vitro In silico	in silico; Calu‐3 cells	4.97	Computationally predicted to possess multiple properties of potential benefit for COVID-19 treatment. A berberine formulation (“NIT-X”) was observed to inhibit SARS-CoV-2 replication and suppress ACE2, TMPRSS2, and pro-inflammatory cytokine gene expression in Calu-3 cells.	Mar/22/2021

AI-suggested references

Link	Publication date
Natural Agents Modulating ACE-2: A Review of Compounds with Potential against SARS-CoV-2 Infections.	Jan/19/2021
Computational Analysis Illustrates the Mechanism of Qingfei Paidu Decoction in Blocking the Transition of COVID-19 Patients from Mild to Severe Stage	May/13/2021
Nanoparticles of ZnO/Berberine complex contract COVID-19 and respiratory co-bacterial infection in addition to elimination of hydroxychloroquine toxicity.	Sep/06/2021
Recognition of Natural Products as Potential Inhibitors of COVID-19 Main Protease (Mpro): In-Silico Evidences	Jul/01/2020
Antiviral activity of berberine	Jun/28/2020
In silico investigation of phytoconstituents from Indian medicinal herb 'Tinospora cordifolia (giloy)' against SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) by molecular dynamics approach.	Apr/21/2021
Screening of phytochemical compounds of Tinospora cordifolia for their inhibitory activity on SARS-CoV-2: an in silico study	Jan/30/2021
Pathomechanisms, therapeutic targets and potent inhibitors of some beta-coronaviruses from bench-to-bedside.	May/28/2021
Research on the mechanism of berberine in the treatment of COVID-19 pneumonia pulmonary fibrosis using network pharmacology and molecular docking	Mar/04/2022
Structure-based drug designing for potential antiviral activity of selected natural products from Ayurveda against SARS-CoV-2 spike glycoprotein and its cellular receptor	May/24/2020
Ethnomedicines of Indian origin for combating COVID-19 infection by hampering the viral replication: using structure-based drug discovery approach	Jun/23/2020
Cordifolioside: potent inhibitor against Mpro of SARS-CoV-2 and immunomodulatory through human TGF-beta and TNF-alpha	Feb/22/2021
Atovaquone and Berberine Chloride Reduce SARS-CoV-2 Replication In Vitro.	Dec/04/2021
In vitro evaluation of antiviral activity of single and combined repurposable drugs against SARS-CoV-2	Jul/15/2020

Clinical trials

ID	Title	Status	Phase	Start date	Completion date
NCT04479202	The Effect of Berberine on Intestinal Function and Inflammatory Mediators in Severe Patients With Covid-19	Completed	Phase 4	Feb/08/2020	Apr/23/2020
Alternative id - Berberine treats COVID-19\|XJ2020005101 Interventions - Drug: Berberine\|Drug: Montmorrillonite Study type - Interventional Study results - No Results Available Locations - Nanjing Drum Tower Hospital, Nanjing, Jiangsu, China Study designs - Allocation: Randomized\|Intervention Model: Parallel Assignment\|Masking: Double (Participant, Outcomes Assessor)\|Primary Purpose: Treatment Enrollment - 76 Age - 18 Years to 80 Years (Adult, Older Adult) Outcome measures - Changes in diarrhea frequency and Bristol Stool Scale\|IL-6 (ng/ml)\|IL-10（ng/ml）\|IL-1β (ng/ml)\|TNF-α (pg/ml)\|leukocyte count (10^9/l)\|c reactive protein (mg/l)\|procalcitonin (ng/ml)

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