A new rial has been launched in the UK to determine whether the inexpensive and readily available ibuprofen may help alleviate severe breathing problems in Covid-19 patients.

The trial, known as ‘Liberate’, is a joint effort between experts from Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust in London, King’s College London (KCL) and the pharmaceutical organisation the SEEK Group, reported Reuters. It will be a randomised study with up to 230 patients scheduled to be recruited over the coming months.

It involves a special ibuprofen formulation – already licensed for use in Britain for other conditions – which experts hope will reduce potential gastric side effects linked to ibuprofen. These effects meant that paracetamol was the better drug to relieve early-stage Covid-19 symptoms.

KCL’s Centre for Innovative Therapeutics director Mitul Mehta told the PA news agency: “If we can reduce their symptoms at that stage we have several benefits – we could reduce the amount of time that someone spends in hospital. They might recover quicker and go home, that’s a fantastic outcome.

“We also might be reducing the degree of respiratory distress so that it can be managed in the hospital setting, without needing to go to ICU. And that is a fantastic outcome as well . . . Theoretically, this treatment, given at this time, should be beneficial.

“But of course, this is based on animal studies. It’s based on case reports, we need to do a trial to show that the evidence matches what we expect to happen,” he said.

Mehta said animal studies into acute respiratory distress syndrome – a symptom of Covid-19 – have found that some 80 per cent of animals with the condition die, reported PA. But when they are given this special formulation of ibuprofen this figure drops to 20 per cent.

In mid-March, the World Health Organisation (WHO) recommended that people suffering Covid-19 symptoms avoid taking ibuprofen, after French officials warned that anti-inflammatory drugs could worsen effects of the virus.

The warning by French Minister of Social Affairs and Health Olivier Veran followed a study in The Lancet medical journal that hypothesised that an enzyme boosted by anti-inflammatory drugs such as ibuprofen could facilitate and worsen Covid-19 infections.

Asked about the study, WHO spokesman Christian Lindmeier told reporters in Geneva the UN health agency’s experts were “looking into this to give further guidance”.

“In the meantime, we recommend using rather paracetamol, and do not use ibuprofen as a self-medication. That’s important,” he said.

He added that if ibuprofen had been “prescribed by the healthcare professionals, then, of course, that’s up to them”.

His comments came after Veran sent a tweet cautioning that the use of ibuprofen and similar anti-inflammatory drugs could be “an aggravating factor” in Covid-19 infections.

“In the case of fever, take paracetamol,” he said.

A spokesperson for British pharmaceutical company Reckitt Benckiser Group Plc, which makes Nurofen, said in an email statement that the company was aware of concerns raised about “the use of steroids and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory (NSAIDs) products, including ibuprofen, for the alleviation of Covid-19 symptoms.

“Consumer safety is our number one priority,” the spokesperson said, stressing that “Ibuprofen is a well-established medicine that has been used safely as a self-care fever and pain reducer, including in viral illnesses, for more than 30 years”.

“We do not currently believe there is any proven scientific evidence linking over-the-counter use of ibuprofen to the aggravation of Covid-19,” said the statement.

The spokesperson said Reckitt Benckiser was “engaging with the WHO, EMA [the European Medicines Agency] and other local health authorities” on the issue and would provide “any additional information or guidance necessary for the safe use of our products following any such evaluation”.