(Reuters) – A widely used asthma treatment appears to reduce the need for hospital admissions and recovery time for COVID-19 patients if given within seven days of the symptoms appearing, researchers at the University of Oxford said Tuesday.
The findings were made after a mid-term study of the steroid budesonide, sold as Pulmicort by AstraZeneca Plc and also used to treat smokers’ lungs.
The 28-day study with 146 patients suggested that inhaled budesonide reduced the risk of emergency care or hospitalization by 90% compared to usual care, according to Oxford University.
Researchers said the trial was inspired by the fact that patients with chronic respiratory disease, who are frequently prescribed inhaled steroids, were significantly under-represented among hospitalized COVID-19 patients during the early days of the pandemic. (bit.ly/3q40g1W)
Initial data from the study also showed that volunteers treated with budesonide had a faster fever and less persistent symptoms.
“I find it encouraging that a relatively safe, widely available, and well-studied drug … could have an impact on the pressures we experience during the pandemic,” said Mona Bafadhel, lead investigator on the study.
Pulmicort was once a blockbuster drug to coronavirus vaccine maker AstraZeneca, which now offers a newer drug, Symbicort, as an alternative asthma treatment.
The results of the Oxford University study have yet to be published in a peer-reviewed journal.
Reporting by Pushkala Aripaka in Bengaluru; Editing by Ramakrishnan M.