A large clinical trial shows that an anti-inflammatory drug called colchicine is effective in treating Covid-19 and reduces the risk of complications from the disease, doctors in Canada said.
The results of the study are an “important scientific discovery” and make colchicine – a drug used to treat gout – “the world’s first oral drug that can be used to treat non-hospital patients with Covid-19,” said the Montreal Heart, the institute said in a statement late Friday.
The study results show that colchicine reduced the risk of death or hospitalization in patients with Covid-19 by 21 percent compared to placebo, the institute said.
The study was conducted in Canada, the US, Europe and South America among a population of 4,488 patients.
In 4,159 of these patients, whose diagnosis of Covid-19 was proven by a nasopharyngeal PCR test, colchicine use reduced hospitalizations by 25 percent, the need for mechanical ventilation by 50 percent, and deaths by 44 percent, the study concluded.
Colchicine is effective in preventing dangerous inflammatory syndromes called “cytokine storms” and reducing complications associated with Covid-19, said Dr. Jean-Claude Tardif, director of the MHI Research Center and lead investigator in this study.
“We are delighted to offer the world’s first oral medications whose use can have a significant impact on public health and potentially prevent Covid-19 complications for millions of patients,” said Tardif.
The study was conducted in Covid-19 patients who were not hospitalized at the time of study enrollment and with at least one risk factor for Covid-19 complications.
“This is the world’s largest study of an orally administered drug in non-hospitalized patients with Covid-19,” said the Heart Institute.
This story was published from a wire desk feed with no text modifications.