INTERVIEW
Nicotine could have a protective effect against infection by the coronavirus, advance researchers in France where preventive and therapeutic trials will be undertaken with patches at La Pitié-Salpêtrière hospital in Paris. But this is not a reason for anyone to rob the dedicated department in pharmacies. "It is imperative that the patches are reserved for those who are smoking cessation, so that they can have access to them," warns Gilles Bonnefond, president of the Union of pharmacist unions, invited to " Walk-in "Wednesday.
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Nicotine prevents coronavirus from binding in the body
The researchers' hypothesis is supported by the small number of smokers among hospitalized Covid-19 patients, found in various studies around the world. A new French study of 350 hospitalized and 150 lighter patients who consulted, all suffering from Covid-19 (confirmed by PCR test), seems to have confirmed it. "The hypothesis is that nicotine, by attaching to the cell receptor used by the coronavirus, prevents or retains it from attaching to it" and therefore from entering the cells and spreading in the organism, explains Pr Jean-Pierre Changeux, from the Pasteur Institute and the Collège de France.
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But no question of "self-medicating in a patch or in a nicotine gum" warns Gilles Bonnefond who adds that this announcement "is still not verified". "Whenever there are moments of tension, it is when there is an announcement that is made and that leads to a request that cannot be honored," he notes. As was the case for surgical masks or chloroquine, which "put pressure on requests with prescriptions that were not compliant or falsified".
Three possible tests
As soon as the final green light is obtained, with the support of the Minister of Health Olivier Véran, nicotine patches will be administered at different dosages in three trials: preventive to caregivers, to see if this protects them; in therapy to patients hospitalized in medicine, in an attempt to reduce their symptoms; and finally to serious patients in intensive care, explains Professor Amoura.
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Nor should these studies encourage people to rush to smoke. Smoking alters the lungs and it is not good for health (cancer, heart accidents ...), remind doctors to dissuade all those who have hitherto resisted this addiction of suddenly submitting to it.