COVID-19 breakthrough: An old drug cuts death risk nearly in half

Since day one of the pandemic, I’ve been waiting for the great scientific minds to figure out how to repurpose old drugs in the fight against this virus.   

Keep in mind that not everyone will have access to the vaccine. Some simply won’t be able to take it, for various reasons—like allergies. Whereas others may simply choose not to get vaccinated.  

But the good news is, humans have gotten through other epidemics by adapting behaviors and finding new uses for old drugs. So this public health threat shouldn’t be any different.   

You may be surprised to hear me say it, but this is actually one case where Big Pharma really can come to the rescue. And I’m thrilled to report that it seems they have…  

Deaths down by half 

According to a new trial, a drug called colchicine is able to prevent complications and hospitalizations in new COVID-19 patients.  

This is a very old drug—and it used to be a very cheap drug, too—which has generally been used to treat gout. Colchicine acts as an anti-inflammatory. And as you’ll recall, the medical community has been going after this part of the COVID-19 puzzle hard, as excessive inflammatory reactions are usually what leads to death in severe cases. 

This recent phase 3 ColCORONA trial showed that risk of death and hospitalization was 21 percent lower after one month of treatment among nearly 4,500 outpatients, compared with placebo. But it gets even better…   

Once researchers excluded the 300 plus patients without a confirmed COVID-19 diagnosis, colchicine cut: 

• hospitalizations by 25 percent; 
• the need for ventilators by 50 percent; and 
• deaths by 44 percent! 

During the trial, if patients tested positive for COVID-19 in the previous 24 hours, they were administered 0.5 mg of colchicine twice a day for three days—then 0.5 mg once daily for another 27 days. (Remember, getting any treatment in early is always key.)  

Every patient included also had at least one high risk factor—they were at least 70 years old, obese, diabetic, or suffered from uncontrolled high blood pressure, respiratory disease, or heart failure or coronary disease.  

Nothing to lose  

These results are pretty incredible—and this is a significant breakthrough. But prior to reading this Reality Health Check… have you heard about it? I’m going to take a wild guess and say that you haven’t. Yet, plenty of other countries have been quick to review this data, and colchicine has already been approved for use in Greece.   

So what are we waiting for? We have nothing to lose and a whole lot to gain from this development. 

Don’t get me wrong—I’m very pleased to have millions of people being vaccinated daily in the hopes of eradicating this disease, saving lives, and finally moving on. But as I said earlier, access, preference, health, and availability still present very real problems on the path to herd immunity.    

Luckily, colchicine is still cheap in most countries. (Of course, here in the states it would cost you—get ready for it—six bucks per pill, compared to just 26 cents in Canada! Though that price tag is still much less than some of Big Pharma’s “wonder” pills… and this one has a whole lot more life-saving potential.) Which is good news… as this pandemic is the whole world’s problem.  

We are all interconnected in ways that many people probably never considered before now—and defeating coronavirus anywhere is going to require defeating it everywhere, one way or another.  

Of course, there are still a lot of details up in the air at this point. And I’m not suggesting that you rush off and stock up on colchicine. But a 100 percent no-infection rate will never be likely. And preventing side effects and death is still a vital part of this fight. So, any way that can be achieved is well worth considering. 

P.S. For additional ways to keep your immune system in tip-top shape in the age of coronavirus, check out my Complete Guide to Year-Round Immunity. Click here for more details! 

Source: 

“ColCORONA: Colchicine Reduces Complications in Outpatient COVID-19.” Medscape Medical News, 01/24/2021. (medscape.com/viewarticle/944593)