A cheap drug normally used to treat gout has been found to have the potential to significantly reduce hospital stays among Covid-19 patients and the need for extra oxygen.
The results of new research into colchicine conducted in Brazil come after an international trial published on Wednesday found that it reduced hospitalisations and deaths among Covid-19 patients by more than 20%.
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Colchicine, which is used to treat rheumatic diseases, was hailed by researchers as having the potential to be the first oral drug to treat Covid-19 in outpatient settings in a trial funded by the government of Quebec and philanthropists.
The latest trial, funded by foundations and Brazilian authorities, suggested that the drug could lessen the body’s inflammatory response and help ward off damage to the cells lining the walls of blood vessels.
“Whatever the mechanism of action … colchicine seems to be beneficial for the treatment of hospitalised patients with Covid-19,” according to a report on the small clinical trial that appeared in the online journal RMD Open, which is published by the British Medical Journal.
The researchers added that it wasn’t associated with serious side-effects, such as heart or liver damage or immune system suppression, factors that have sometimes been linked to some other drugs used to treat Covid.
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