Finding New Uses For Old Leprosy Drugs The leprosy drug clofazimine can block SARS-CoV-2 replication and even prevent the cytokine storm often seen in COVID-19 patients. SHARE AsianScientist (Mar. 17, 2021) – While you can’t teach an old dog new tricks, old drugs can certainly be repurposed for new applications. Indeed, researchers have found that the leprosy drug clofazimine shows promise as an at-home treatment for COVID-19. Their findings were published in Nature. Having plagued humanity for millenia, the bacterial skin disease leprosy was finally eliminated as a public health problem in 2000. This remarkable feat was achieved with the help of drugs like clofazimine, which binds to bacterial DNA and blocks further replication. Given its potency against leprosy, clofazimine is listed as an essential medicine by the World Health Organization.