Very important results from a recent human study led by University of Pavia, Italy,
and involving 120 high exposure healthcare workers: quercetin Phytosome® supplementation helps
maintaining health conditions in 75% people working in a COVID-19 infectious environment.
Such evidences confirm once more the efficacy of quercetin, formulated with Indena’s Phytosome® delivery
system, in being a favourable supplementation in situations where possible exposition to SARS-CoV-2 risks
is higher.
“We are very happy to work with such prestigious University with the aim to further investigate quercetin
Phytosome® (Quercefit®) potential in supporting a healthy condition during this COVID-19 period, thus
contributing to explore how nature may help fighting the pandemic – says Pietro Allegrini, R&D Director of
Indena S.p.A. – Quercefit® is one of Indena’s signature ingredient and an example of company’s continuous
commitment in developing high quality, effective and innovative products, to face the most important and
current challenges for human wellbeing”.
It’s important to remind that in the global emergency due to COVID-19 it’s required to follow the guidelines
provided by international and local Health Authorities. Social distancing, mask use, consulting the doctor if
any symptoms occur are the strict and necessary rules everybody must follow. And only drugs must be used
in acute clinical situations.
But at the same time supplementation of specific botanical ingredients, like quercetin Phytosome®
(Quercefit®), can play a positive role, thanks to its proven capacity to modulate the body physiological
response to a possible infection, capacity due to the pleiotropic mechanism including the senolytic action. It’s
also worth remembering quercetin’s proven properties to modulate immune and inflammatory responses in
individuals experiencing respiratory discomforts.
“Quercetin, for its crucial properties, fulfills the need for a multifactor action that is useful for the potential
counterbalance of a possible COVID-19 infection – explains Mariangela Rondanelli, Department of Public
Health, Experimental and Forensic Medicine, University of Pavia – Given this background, the aim of the
study was to evaluate the potential effect of 3 months’ supplementation with Quercetin Phytosome® (250 mg
twice a day) as favourable modulation of body physiological response when symptomatic COVID-19 may
occur. In total, 120 subjects were enrolled, with 60 in the supplementation group and 60 in the placebo group.
Subjects underwent rapid COVID-19 diagnostic tests every 3 weeks. During our study, 5 subjects had
COVID-19, only 1 out of 60 subjects in the quercetin Phytosome® group and 4 out of 60 in the control group.
Complete clinical remission was recorded at 7 and 15 days in the supplementation and placebo groups,
respectively”.
Another important result of the study is related to the long-term protective potential of quercetin Phytosome®,
as further says Mariangela Rondanelli: “Analysis showed that, at 5 months, those who had taken the
supplement had a protection factor of 14% more to stay healthy, than that of those who had taken a placebo”.
The study carried out by the University of Pavia adds to those2, conducted some months ago, which showed
that quercetin Phytosome® supplementation helps people maintaining their health condition in a SARS-CoV-2 infectious environment, without substituting the standard precautionary measures and treatments envisaged by the medical protocols.
Indena is very proud of these important results, which confirm the value of research and studies that have always been one of the pillars of the activity of the company.
Indena is the leading company dedicated to the identification, development and production of high quality active principles
derived from plants, for use in the pharmaceutical and health food industries. Backed up by a century of botanical experience, the company owns 100 patent families, has published more than 1000 scientific studies and co- operates with the world’s most prestigious universities and private research institutions. Indena employs over 900 staff, investing a significant amount of its annual turnover in research, making this activity the key to its success. Headquartered in Milan, Indena has 4 production sites and 5 international branches throughout the world and manages sales in more than 80 countries. The company’s experts communicate and interact constantly with the major international regulatory authorities and cooperate on the update of all the main pharmacopoeias.
Today Indena has further expanded its CDMO offer encompassing new services. In particular, a kilolab to handle semisynthetic and total synthetic APIs that require high containment (OEL of 20 ng/m3), a new multipurpose GMP pilot
plant, a multipurpose fermentation suite and large-and-mid size spray dryers working with organic solvents.
1 Rondanelli, Mariangela, et al. Life 12.1 (2022): 66.
2 Di Pierro et al., , International Journal of General Medicine 2021:14 2359–2366.
Di Pierro et al., International Journal of General Medicine 2021:14 2807–2816.
Find more on indena.com
