Kappa Bioscience announced that it has entered a new agreement with Canisius Wilhelmina Hospital, Nijmegen, The Netherlands, to cover funding of a PhD grant and execution of the first-ever human clinical trial exploring the potential benefits of vitamin K2 supplementation in COVID-19 patients, and enrollment for the trial began this week.
 
The company is supporting the execution of a prospective randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial called the KOVIT trial. The research is being led by pulmonologist Dr. Rob Janssen, MD, PhD, and researcher and coordinating investigator Dr. Jona Walk, MD, PhD, resident in Internal Medicine. Kappa’s vitamin K2 as MK-7 ingredient, K2Vital, will be used to investigate the potential benefits of supplementation in COVID-19 patients.
 
The primary objective of the study will be to determine whether vitamin K status affects the degradation of elastic fibers in the lungs. The first patient to enroll in the trial did so on Feb. 22, and the results of the study are expected in the fall. The PhD candidate, Margot Visser, MD, will act as a clinical investigator in the KOVIT trial, carrying 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 discovered a correlation between low vitamin K status and more severe symptoms of COVID-19. An extrahepatic (originating outside of the liver) vitamin K2 deficiency was observed in COVID-19 patients, and it was theorized that this could lead to an imbalance within the coagulation machinery and degradation of the elastic fibers in the lungs. Unlike vitamin K1, K2 is distributed extrahepatically, and could play an important role in restoring this recently-discovered imbalance. For this reason, researchers believe 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 nad blood clotting, vitamin K deficiency during COVID-19 may make both of those problems worse,” Janssen and Walk said in an announcement of the trial.
 
“Based on the recently published science, it is important to seek more undersrtanding about the role of vitamin K2 (as menaquinone-7) in COVID-19 through research collaborations with experts in the field,” Trygve Bergeland, vice president of Science at Kappa Bioscience, said. “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.”