Kappa Bioscience has announced an agreement with Canisius Wilhelmina Hospital in The Netherlands, covering funding of a PhD grant and execution of a clinical trial. This human clinical trial exploring the potential benefits of vitamin K2 supplementation in COVID-19 patients has begun enrolling this week.
Kappa Bioscience supports the execution of a prospective randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial: the KOVIT trial. Research is led by pulmonologist Dr Rob Janssen, and Researcher and Coordinating Investigator Dr Jona Walk, Resident in Internal Medicine. Kappa’s vitamin K2 MK-7 ingredient, K2Vital, will be used to investigate the potential benefits of supplementation in COVID-19 patients.
The primary objective is to evaluate whether vitamin K status affects elastic fibres degradation in the lungs. The trial is now enrolling, the first patient was included on the 22nd of February. Results are expected in Autumn. The PhD candidate, Margot Visser, acts as a clinical investigator in the KOVIT trial and carries out analytical work, intended to secure a better understanding of the COVID-19 pathogenesis and the role of vitamin K2.
Last year, Dr Walk and Dr Janssen reportedly discovered a correlation between low vitamin K status and more severe COVID-19. An extrahepatic deficiency (situated or originating outside the liver) was found in COVID-19 patients, which could lead to an imbalance within the coagulation machinery and degradation of the elastic fibres in the lungs. On the contrary to vitamin K1, K2 is distributed extrahepatically, and could therefore play a role in restoring this recently discovered imbalance, the researchers theorise. The study is intended to discover if supplementation with vitamin K2 might help reduce thrombosis and lung damages observed in COVID-19 patients.
“Considering that vitamin K is important for regulating lung health and blood clotting, vitamin K deficiency during COVID-19 may make both those problems worse,” said Dr Rob Janssen and Dr Jona Walk.
Trygve Bergeland, VP Science at Kappa Bioscience, said: “Based on the recently published science, it is important to seek more understanding about the role of vitamin K2 (as menaquinone-7) in COVID-19 through research collaborations with experts in the field. We are committed to supporting ongoing projects in this important research area. We also welcome other researchers to engage and illuminate the potential roles for vitamin K2 in immune health.”