This cheap, oral anti-inflammatory drug can reduce Covid severity

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<strong>An inexpensive, readily available oral anti-inflammatory drug can reduce the risk of hospitalisation and death for some patients with Covid-19, according to a study.<br />
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Colchicine, which is currently prescribed to treat gout, familial Mediterranean fever and pericarditis, could be considered as a treatment for those at risk of complications, revealed the findings published in the science journal The Lancet Respiratory Medicine.<br />
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"Given the current pandemic, while awaiting collective immunity through vaccination around the world, the need for treatments to prevent Covid-19 complications among patients who contract the disease remains," said Jean-Claude Tardif, Director of the Montreal Heart Institute (MHI) Research Centre.<br />
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"Our study showed that colchicine could be used to reduce the risk of complications for some patients with Covid-19," Tardif, who is also a Professor at the Faculty of Medicine of the University de Montreal.<br />
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For the study, the team conducted a randomised, double-blinded, placebo-controlled, home-based clinical trial in Canada, the United States, Europe, South America, and South Africa.<br />
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The team included 4,488 non-hospitalised patients over 40 years of age with Covid-19 at the time of inclusion, with at least one identified risk factor for Covid-19 complications (e.g., diabetes, hypertension, known respiratory disease, obesity). Patients were randomised to receive colchicine (0.5 mg twice daily for three days and once daily after) or placebo for 30 days.<br />
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The results showed that of 4,159 patients with Covid, the primary endpoint — that is the composite of death or hospitalisation — occurred in 4.6 per cent of patients in the colchicine group compared to 6.0 per cent in the placebo group, a statistically significant result.<br />
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Serious adverse events were reported in 4.9 per cent of patients in the colchicine group and 6.3 per cent of those in the placebo group.<br />
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"Notwithstanding these results, it is recommended that studies such as this one be replicated in non-hospitalised patients with a PCR-confirmed diagnosis of Covid-19," the researchers stressed.</p>