On Sunday, Greece approved colchicine, an inexpensive drug for heart disease, that would be included in the oral treatment protocol for patients with Covid-19.
The health ministry’s expert committee gave the “green light” following the positive results of a major Canadian study in which Greece participated.
The study showed that the administration of colchicine to patients with Covid-19 “reduced mortality by 44%, hospitalization by 25% and the need for intubation by 50%,” he told Athens-Macedonia on professor of cardiology Spyros Deftereos, who coordinated the study in Greece. News Agency (AMNA).
The committee decided to include the drug colchicine for use in out-of-hospital patients.
However, administration will be done after a doctor’s prescription in certain categories of patients with a positive molecular test for coronavirus.
They are patients over the age of 60 who have a positive molecular test regardless of whether or not they have underlying diseases.
Also for patients aged 18 to 60 years with at least one underlying illness or fever over 38 years of age for at least 48 hours.
Canadian study
The study of Covid-19 treatment for colchicine was conducted by a team of researchers from the Montreal Heart Institute.
For Dr. Jean-Claude Tardif, who led the study, it is an “important scientific discovery,” he said. Colchicine is the first “effective oral drug to treat out-of-hospital patients.”
“To be able to offer this, from Quebec and around the planet, we are very happy,” Tardif said.
The ColCorona study included 4,159 patients whose diagnosis of COVID-19 had been confirmed by a nasopharyngeal test (PCR).
Reduction of congestion in hospitals
“This is the first hope for patients who have COVID, who are worried and who expect to have no complications,” Tardif said. Previously, “there were no tablets that could be taken orally and reduce the risks.”
Tardif said he believes the drug’s prescription could help reduce congestion in hospitals quickly and reduce health care costs in Quebec and elsewhere.
“Our study demonstrated the effectiveness of colchicine treatment in preventing the phenomenon of major inflammatory storm and reducing COVID-19-related complications,” he said.
Because colchicine is a well-understood drug, it could be used very quickly to treat people with COVID-19, according to the researcher.
“Colchicine is as old as it is (we’ve been treating gout with it for hundreds of years), so it’s available in pharmacies,” Tardif said, speaking in French.
“So any doctor, tomorrow, who reads this can definitely decide if he wants to prescribe it.”
On Friday evening, Quebec Prime Minister Francois Legault described the study as “big news” on social media.