A trial carried out by the Indian Institute of Technology-Madras has shown that Indomethacin, a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug, is very effective as an antiviral agent in the treatment of mild and moderate Covid-19 patients, the Institute said.

The results of the study, funded by Infosys co-founder Kris Gopalakrishnan, have recently been published in the peer-reviewed journal Nature Scientific Reports. The study conducted at Panimalar Medical College and Research Institute in Poonamalle near Chennai was led by Dr Rajan Ravichandran, an Adjunct Faculty at IIT Madras and Director of Nephrology at MIOT hospitals.

However, the drug is currently not part of the Covid-19 treatment protocol.

The study, which was conceptualised and coordinated by Prof. R. Krishna Kumar, Institute professor, IIT-M, is the first to show the efficacy of indomethacin through a randomised clinical trial, although the scientific basis has been researched by Italian and US scientists.

Of the total 210 admitted patients, as many as 107 were randomly allocated to a control group, treated with paracetamol and standard care of treatment, while 103 patients were administered indomethacin along with standard care of treatment.

Prof. Krishna Kumar said on Friday that none of the 103 patients who received indomethacin developed oxygen desaturation, while 20 of the 109 patients from the control group were desaturated with oxygen saturation levels below 93 per cent.

“Indomethacin group patients recovered from all symptoms in three to four days. It took double the time for the control group. Liver and kidney function tests showed no adverse reaction,” he explained. 

The two reviewers, Prof. Vikas Sukhatme, an expert in immunology from Emory University and Dr. Colin Brown, an infectious disease specialist from the UK have given the article a good rating.

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