It has been found that a cheap drug normally used to treat gout has the potential to significantly reduce hospital stays in patients with Covid-19 and the need for additional oxygen.
The results of new research on colchicine in Brazil come after an international study published on Wednesday found that it reduced hospitalizations and deaths among patients with Covid-19 by more than 20%.
Colchicine, which is used to treat rheumatic diseases, has been touted by researchers as having the potential to be the first oral drug to treat Covid-19 on an outpatient basis in a study funded by the Quebec government and philanthropists.
The latest study, funded by Brazilian foundations and authorities, suggested that the drug could lessen the body’s inflammatory response and help prevent damage to cells that line the walls of blood vessels.
“Whatever the mechanism of action … colchicine appears to be beneficial for the treatment of patients hospitalized with Covid-19,” according to a report on the small clinical trial published in the online journal RMD Open, which is published by the British Medical Journal.
The researchers added that it was not associated with serious side effects, such as damage to the heart or liver or suppression of the immune system, factors that were sometimes linked to other drugs used to treat Covid.
The reductions in the need for oxygen therapy and the length of hospital stay have not only been good for patients, but also reduce healthcare costs and the need for hospital beds, they added.
However, they also expressed caution that only a small number of patients were included in the study and could not determine whether colchicine could avoid the need for intensive care or reduce the risk of death.
Brazil has been particularly hard hit by the pandemic, while health workers in the country’s largest state are begging for help and oxygen supplies after a sharp rise in Covid infections.
While colchicine has been used to treat and prevent inflammatory conditions, a feature of Covid infections, the researchers wanted to know if its use could reduce the need for extra oxygen or long hospital stays.
The research was conducted between April and August last year, when 75 hospitalized patients with moderate to severe Covid-19 were randomly assigned to receive different levels of colchicine.
The results were based on 72 patients. It was found that the average time that patients needed oxygen therapy was four days for those treated with supplemental colchicine, compared with 6.5 days for those who received a standard type of treatment.
The mean length of hospital stay was seven days for the colchicine group, compared with nine for the other group.