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Greece on Sunday approved colchicine, an inexpensive heart disease drug, to be included in the oral treatment protocol for patients with Covid-19.
The expert committee of the Ministry of Health has given the “green light” after the positive results of a large Canadian study in which Greece participated.
The study showed that administering colchicine to Covid-19 patients ‘reduced mortality by 44%, hospitalization by 25% and the need for intubation by 50%,’ said cardiology professor Spyros Deftereos , who coordinated the study in Greece at the Athens-Macedonia News Agency (NAMA).
The committee decided to include the drug colchicine for use in patients outside the hospital.
However, administration will be done after a medical prescription in certain categories of patients with a positive coronavirus molecular test.
These are all patients over the age of 60 who have a positive molecular test, whether or not they have underlying diseases.
Also for patients aged 18 to 60 with at least one underlying disease or fever over 38 years of age for at least 48 hours.
Canadian study
The study of the treatment of Covid-19 with colchicine was carried out by a team of researchers from the Montreal Heart Institute.
For Dr Jean-Claude Tardif, who led the study, this is a “major 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 for the planet, we are very happy,” said Tardif.
The ColCorona study involved 4,159 patients whose diagnosis of COVID-19 had been confirmed by a nasopharyngeal test (PCR).
Reduce congestion in hospitals
“This is the first hope for patients who have COVID, who are worried and who are hoping they won’t have complications,” Tardif said. Previously, “no tablet could be taken orally and reduce the risk”.
Tardif said he believed prescribing the drug could help quickly reduce congestion in hospitals and lower health care costs in Quebec and elsewhere.
“Our study showed the effectiveness of treatment using colchicine to prevent the phenomenon of major inflammatory storm and reduce complications from COVID-19,” he said.
Since colchicine is a well-known drug, it could be used very quickly to treat people with COVID-19, the researcher explains.
“Colchicine is 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 tomorrow any doctor who reads this can decide to prescribe if they want to.”
On Friday evening, the Premier of Quebec, François Legault, described the study as “big news” on social networks.
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