Indomethacin — an affordable, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug — could potentially be used to treat mild and moderate cases of coronavirus, a recent study from IIT Madras claims.
A recent peer-reviewed journal article published in Nature Scientific Reports has “demonstrated excellent efficacy of Indomethacin, a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug, as an antiviral agent in the treatment of mild and moderate COVID-19 patients”.
The study conducted at the Panimalar Medical College and Research Institute was led by Dr. Rajan Ravichandran, an adjunct faculty at IIT Madras and director of Nephrology at MIOT hospitals. The study was conceptualized and coordinated by Prof. R. Krishna Kumar, Professor at the Institute, IIT Madras.
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Indomethacin, with over 20 lakh prescriptions a year in the US alone, is an established drug that has been widely used since the 1960s to treat various types of inflammation-related problems.
The entire study was funded by Kris Gopalakrishnan, an alumnus of IIT Madras and president of Axilor Ventures.
dr. Rajan Ravichandran, adjunct faculty at IIT Madras and director of Nephrology at MIOT hospitals, said: “Knowing that one of the deadly effects of the COVID infection is inflammation and the cytokine storm, we decided to use the non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug “Indomethacin. The scientific evidence strongly demonstrates its antiviral activity against the Coronavirus. Indomethacin is a safe and well-understood drug. I have been using it in my profession for thirty years.”
Prof. dr. R. Krishna Kumar, professor at the Institute, IIT Madras, emphasized the study results: “Out of a total of 210 patients admitted, 107 were randomly assigned to a control group, treated with paracetamol and standard treatment. 103 patients received indomethacin along with standard treatment. The patients were monitored every day for symptoms such as cough, cold, fever and muscle aches, along with oxygen saturation.”
None of the 103 patients who received indomethacin developed oxygen desaturation, the IIT claims. On the other hand, 20 of 109 control patients were unsaturated with oxygen saturation levels less than 93 percent. Indomethacin group of patients recovered from all symptoms in three to four days, it said. It took the control group twice as much time. Liver and renal function tests showed no adverse reaction.
The 14-day follow-up showed that almost half of the patients in the control group had various discomforts, while a few indomethacin patients only complained of fatigue.”
The work was chosen for peer-reviewed by Rapid Reviews; COVID-19, run by a team from Univ. California Berkeley and MIT Press. The review stated: “Reviewers found the results convincing and reliable”.
The two reviewers, Prof. Vikas Sukhatme, an internationally acclaimed expert in immunology from Emory University, and Dr. Colin Brown, an infectious disease specialist from the UK, rated the article 4 out of 5.
dr. Rajan Ravichandran added: “Indomethacin works with all variants. We had done two trials, one in the first wave and the other in the second wave. The results were the same. I sincerely hope ICMR takes note of this study and includes indomethacin in the COVID treatment protocol.”
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