Keto5, (https://keto5.com/ ), a doctor-founded Beverly Hills-based company, has filed for a patent for the use of its proprietary exogenous ketone salt products as an adjunct supplement for the licensed COVID treatment Paxlovid as it might possibly reduce the frequency of reoccurring COVID cases experienced in some patients once having completed the standard course of Paxlovid. 

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COVID reoccurrences after having taken anti-virals such as Paxlovid have become a growing concern highlighted by the recent high-profile cases of President Joe Biden, first lady Jill Biden, and Dr. Anthony Fauci.  Several studies have found a higher-than-expected percentage of infected people who receive the normal 5-day course of Paxlovid initially feel better, only to have their symptoms reoccur soon thereafter.

"The treatment is successful in resolving COVID in the general body, but the antiviral drug Paxlovid is too big a molecule to cross through the blood-brain barrier," said Dr. G. Michael Wool, Keto5's CEO and chief medical officer who also currently practices with the world-renowned Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. "Failure of SARS to be completely removed by a short course of antivirals may not work in as many people as originally estimated because the residual viral load in the safe harbor space of the brain and spinal cord is large enough such that once the antiviral is discontinued, the virus reemerges from the privileged space to reinfect the body." 

Dr. Wool explained that because ketone body compositions are small molecules, they can easily penetrate all cells and may provide an adjuvant antiviral and immune enhancing capacity in the elimination of the disease-producing virus in all intracellular and extracellular spaces.

"In the case of HIV, if the drugs do not penetrate the blood-brain barrier, the virus reemerges and continues to cause destruction," he said. "In the case of SARS, CoV-2 we may possibly provide enough of a negative energy force -- meaning the reduction of glucose -- so that the virus replication rate slows down enough so that the natural immunity of T cells and other parts of cellular immunity that defend the body against the virus can take care of the residual virus and clear the body and the brain spinal fluid and spinal cord nervous system of the virus."

Dr. Wool, an award-winning university research physician with a background in pioneering HIV antiviral drug therapies, said his early work has given him keen insight into treating COVID.

He has worked with pharmaceutical companies in the past on the use of small molecule drugs that were able to penetrate the blood-brain barrier and control HIV both in the blood compartment and in the brain and spinal cord. 

Dr. Wool said there's a small but distinct possibility that COVID could mutate or has already mutated into a robust untreatable virus that will reside permanently in the cerebral spinal fluid, brain, and spinal cord, and require prolonged or permanent antiviral therapy such as in HIV/AIDS. 

According to new studies, 1 in 8 people will develop long COVID.

"I still think that there is a lot of information yet to be discovered about this virus," Dr. Wool said. "I have taken care of many individuals, especially in the early days of COVID -- when treatment was scarce, unavailable or yet to be developed and released -- using exogenous ketones, and patients appear to have recovered much more quickly. I've also seen what appears to be a faster reduction in the level of inflammation when patients are given exogenous ketones, but my experience is still anecdotal and unproven - more research needs to be done."

Exogenous ketones might offer two key options to achieve its role as an adjunct supplement for COVID therapies including:

• The substitution of ketone for glucose to impair viral replication within the infected cell and reduce the "viral load" in both the nervous system, circulation, and body also known as the Warburg Effect.

• Boosting extra ketone levels to provide more energy to T cells and improve immunity by increasing the power of T cells to combat infected cells.

A study led by the University of Bonn (Germany), with results having recently been published in the journal Nature, points to energy-rich molecules -- ketone bodies -- possibly helping the body to cope better with viruses. 

"If ketones can enhance native immunity through increased energy provided by ketosis and ketone molecules compared to glucose molecules, then administering a ketones supplement with an antiviral drug may enhance protection, and at the same time, reduce viral replication capacity and provide better patient outcomes for viral infections," Dr. Wool said.

He added, "A recent review article from UCLA School of Medicine authors published in the BMC Bio journal -- just months before the SARS-CoV-2/Covid-19 outbreak -- noted with Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome 1 (SARS-CoV-1) that this similar virus had reduced replication in a low-sugar environment. Ketones produce 150% more energy than glucose. The energy produced by glucose is 4 calories per gram, and 6 calories per gram of ketone." (BMC Biol. 2019 Jul 18;17(1):59. doi: 10.1186/s12915-019-0678-9.)

Looking ahead, Dr. Wool said his company is planning on applying for grants from governmental agencies, industry, and philanthropic organizations to conduct trials related to the beneficial role ketosis can play in treatments for COVID and other viruses.

Derived from the science of physician-led clinical trials, Keto5 formulates, manufactures, and distributes its proprietary exogenous ketone salt products -containing patented formulations, as well as other ingredients designed to optimize the levels and duration of ketosis.

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