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Giving

colchicine to patients diagnosed with

Covid-19

who have not yet been admitted to the hospital

reduces the risk of death and hospitalizations

by

21%

compared to placebo, according to a clinical trial led by the Montreal Heart Institute (MHI) .

The

anti-inflammatory colchicine

, a cheap drug used in gout and other rheumatic diseases, could become, if the results of this study are confirmed, a

first-line treatment

for patients diagnosed with the infection at risk of developing complications.

In this way, it would help to reduce the number of admissions and thus alleviate the problems of hospital saturation.

The Colcorona study analyzed the effect of the anti-gout drug in 4,488 patients.

Of these, 4,159 had a diagnosis of SARS-CoV-2 infection confirmed by RT-PCR.

The trial authors report that the results are "clinically compelling for the efficacy of colchicine in treating Covid-19."

The finding has been released in a statement released by the Canadian institute, but detailed data from the study will likely be published soon in a high-impact medical journal.

"Our research shows the efficacy of colchicine treatment in preventing the cytokine storm phenomenon and reducing complications associated with Covid-19," says Jean-Claude Tardif, director of the MHI Research Center and principal investigator of the trial.

For these scientists, colchicine thus becomes

"the first oral drug that could be used to treat non-hospitalized patients with Covid-19"

.

Several centers from Canada, the United States, South America, South Africa, and Spain participated in the study.

In our country, the trial was coordinated by the Research Institute of the La Paz University Hospital (IDIPAZ) with the participation, in addition to La Paz, of the Ramón y Cajal, Puerta de Hierro, La Princesa, the Fundación Jimenez Díaz and the 12 October, all from Madrid, who contributed some 250 patients to the study.

One of the researchers of this international study, Professor José Luis López-Sendón, from IDIPAZ, assesses this media that the trial "shows a benefit for the patient positive for Covid, but that it is not so serious as to enter the hospital The drug is very cheap and has been used for 200 years in rheumatological disease, characteristics that make it spread to all countries in the world. In addition, it

has hardly any side effects

, as it is administered in a low dose in a daily pill for 30 days".

The authors report that of the 4,159 patients with a confirmed diagnosis, colchicine was associated with reductions in the risk of death and hospitalization compared to placebo: 44% deaths, 50% the need for mechanical ventilation and 25% admissions hospitable.

López-Sendón clarifies that to obtain the new indication of the drug, it is necessary to have the pertinent authorizations from the regulatory bodies, including those of the European Medicines Agency (EMA) and the Spanish Medicines Agency (AEMPS).

"I imagine that these agencies will give it an urgent character, because, as is being seen with vaccines, they are working with speed and flexibility according to the circumstances."

The cardiologist acknowledges that the study has been carried out "thanks to the enthusiasm and will of the researchers", in proof of the exceptional difficulties of the first pandemic wave, when the trial design was carried out.

It also highlights that to start it up, in full confinement in Spain, "all the bureaucratic requirements were obtained with great agility, in a matter of fifteen days, when the normal for a study like this is about four months."

The work was funded by the University of Montreal, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in the United States, and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

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