Effects of Nicotinamide Riboside on the Clinical Outcome of Covid-19 in the Elderly

The purpose of this study is to investigate whether nicotinamide riboside supplementation can attenuate the severity of SARS-CoV-2 infections in elderly patients. A major event in aging is the loss of the central metabolite nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD+) that appear to be important in the proinflammatory environment that occur during aging. Notably, recent work from our and other groups suggest that aging can be ameliorated by even a short-term treatment of the NAD+ precursor nicotinamide riboside. Nicotinamide riboside has recently been shown to be able to return aging tissues to a younger state even after short term treatment. This vitamin B3- analog is naturally occurring, is readily taken up through oral administration and has been tested in human trials with few side effects. In this randomized double blinded case-control trial, the investigators will treat elderly (>70 year old) COVID19 patients with 1 g of nicotinamide riboside (NR-E) or placebo for 2 weeks and investigate if this affects the clinical course of the disease.