Η colchicine, a cheap drug commonly used against gout (podagra), helps reduce the need for oxygen therapy in patients and also shortens their hospital stay, according to a new small randomized, double-blind, controlled trial. clinical study in Brazil.
Researchers stated that colchicine—whose value against coronavirus Greek scientists have already demonstrated that it reduces the risk of death, although this cannot be confirmed., It is worth adding to the standard treatment for patients with moderate to severe Covid-19 infection.
The researchers, led by Dr. René Oliveira of the University of São Paulo School of Medicine, who published their findings in the medical journal RMD Open, tested colchicine on 72 patients, half of whom received the usual treatment with the addition of this drug, while the rest received the usual treatment with the addition of a placebo (dummy drug).
It was found that the average duration of oxygen therapy was four days for the colchicine group and 6.5 days for the control (placebo) group. The average length of hospital stay was seven days for patients who took colchicine, compared to nine days for those who took the placebo. By the seventh day, only 9% of patients who had taken colchicine needed oxygen, compared with 42% in the control group.
Two patients died in the placebo group and none in the colchicine group. The latter was safe, well tolerated by patients, and had few side effects (the most common being diarrhea).
Colchicine has been used successfully to treat and prevent systemic inflammatory conditions such as gout. Extensive inflammation is also characteristic of moderate to severe Covid-19. Moderate severity is considered to be an infection that causes fever, respiratory distress, and pneumonia, while severe is when, in addition to the above, there is a serious lack of oxygen in the patient (saturation below 92%). The standard treatment used by Brazilian doctors, to which they alternatively added colchicine or placebo, was the antibiotic azithromycin, hydroxychloroquine, heparin, and the steroid methylprednisolone.
The researchers pointed out the small number of participants in their trial and their inability to reach a definitive conclusion as to whether colchicine reduces the risk of admission to intensive care. (ICU) and death, which is certainly possible. Nor is it entirely clear, as they said, exactly how this drug can combat Covid-19 infection. As they reported, it is «highly unlikely» that colchicine has direct antiviral properties, but appears to moderate the body's inflammatory responses and prevent damage to the endothelial cells of blood vessels.
However, they emphasized that «whatever its mechanism of action, colchicine appears to be beneficial for the treatment of hospitalized patients with Covid-19,» noting that does not cause serious side effects, e.g. in the heart, liver or immune system, unlike other drugs that have been tested against coronavirus. They added that the reduced need for oxygen administration and shorter hospital stays are not only good for patients but also for a country's healthcare system, since reduces treatment costs and the need for hospital beds, also taking into account that it is not an expensive medicine.
