Z-Pak, also known as azithromycin or Zithromax, could be a critical tool in preventing and treating COVID-19 coronavirus, according to Professor Michael P. Lisanti, MD-PhD and Chair of Translational Medicine at Salford University in the UK. I recently spoke with Professor Lisanti to unpack his hypothesis and call for immediate clinical trials of Z-pak and other extremely inexpensive, generic antibiotics for COVID-19 patients.

Watch my detailed interview with Dr. Michael Lisanti on antibiotics for COVID-19 and cancer here:

Individuals may have heard of Professor Lisanti's work as it relates to groundbreaking experiments targeting cancer stem cells and senescent cells—chronic disease-related cells created by aging. With over 90,000 citations and over 563 published papers, Professor Lisanti is one of the world's most cited researchers—dead or alive—according to Google Scholar.

New drugs cost a billion dollars and 10-15 years to make it through the FDA approval process. This regulatory hurdle precludes natural substances that cannot be patented from being properly researched and tested for illnesses because companies cannot afford the cost to prove the efficacy of something that any organization would be able to sell afterwards. This top-down monopoly approach to medicine can leave the world on its heels—not enough clinical trials on natural substances and patent-dependent, new FDA-cleared drugs and vaccines years away—during a pandemic like the one we are in now.

Professor Lisanti has specialized in identifying FDA-approved generic antibiotics like Z-pak and doxycycline that are extremely effective in killing senescent cells at the heart of aging-related diseases.

As the world is painfully aware, COVID-19 coronavirus is particularly dangerous for the elderly or those with aging-related senescent illnesses like diabetes, cancer, heart disease, and lung disease. As Professor Lisanti said in a statement on his new paper in the journal Aging, "If you look at the host receptors of COVID-19, they are related to senescence. Two proteins have been proposed to be the cellular receptors of COVID-19: one is CD26 – a marker of senescence, and the other, ACE-2, is also associated with senescence. So, older people would be predicted to be more susceptible to COVID-19, exactly as is observed clinically in patients. This could increase their probability of infection, and would explain the increased fatality of COVID-19 infection in older patients. All of this could be related to advanced chronological age and senescent cells."

Lisanti's laboratory has previously demonstrated that Z-pak selectively removes 97% of senescent cells. Without those cells acting as host receptors, it may be harder for COVID-19 to take root in the body and cause serious damage.

Lisanti's lab goes on, "Clinically, it appears what is leading to fatalities in older [COVID-19] patients is the very strong inflammatory reaction and the resulting fibrosis. Azithromycin inhibits inflammation-induced fibrosis, by targeting and removing senescent cells. The cost would be minimal, as the drug is off-patent, widely available and considered safe."