Methylene blue, Mycophenolic acid, Posaconazole, and Niclosamide inhibit SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant BA.1 infection of human airway epithelial organoids.

Sublineages of SARS-CoV-2 (severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2) Omicron variants continue to amass mutations in the spike (S) glycoprotein, which leads to immune evasion and rapid spread of the virus across the human population. Here we demonstrate the susceptibility of the Omicron variant BA.1 (B.1.1.529.1) to four repurposable drugs, Methylene blue (MB), Mycophenolic acid (MPA), Posaconazole (POS), and Niclosamide (Niclo) in post-exposure treatments of primary human airway cell cultures. MB, MPA, POS, and Niclo are known to block infection of human nasal and bronchial airway epithelial explant cultures (HAEEC) with the Wuhan strain, and four variants of concern (VoC), Alpha (B.1.1.7), Beta (B.1.351), Gamma (B.1.1.28), Delta (B.1.617.2) (

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© 2022 The Author(s).

Déclaration de conflit d'intérêts

The authors declare the following financial interests/personal relationships which may be considered as potential competing interests: UFG has been a consultant and stock owner in 3V-Biosciences (now Sagimet Biosciences), a consultant to F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd and to Union Therapeutics A/S. The funders had no role in the design of the study; in the collection, analyses, or interpretation of data; in the writing of the manuscript, or in the decision to publish the results.