Thymosin as a possible therapeutic drug for COVID-19: A case report

BACKGROUND: There are no effective antiviral therapies for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) at present. Although most patients with COVID-19 have a mild or moderate course of disease, up to 5%-10% of patients may have a serious and potentially life-threatening condition, indicating an urgent need for effective therapeutic drugs. The therapeutic effect of thymosin on COVID-19 has not been previously studied. In this paper, for the first time we report a case of thymosin treatment of COVID-19. CASE SUMMARY: A 51-year-old man with imported COVID-19 was admitted with definite symptoms of chest tightness, chest pain, and fatigue. The polymerase chain reaction results for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 were negative. The antibody test was positive, confirming the diagnosis of COVID-19. As many orally administered drugs were not well tolerated due to gastrointestinal symptoms, an emergency use of thymosin, a polypeptide consisting of 28 amino acids, was administered by injection. Finally, after the implementation of the treatment program, symptoms and lung imaging improved significantly. CONCLUSION: In this case report, it is confirmed that thymosin may help alleviate the severity of COVID-19 symptoms.