Colchicine Benefits COVID-19 Patients Save

A proof-of-concept study published in Annals of Rheumatic Disease suggests that colchicine significantly improves COVID-19 outcomes.

Efficacy and safety must be determined in controlled clinical trials.he outbreak of COVID-19 posed the issue of urgently identifying treatment strategies. Colchicine was considered for this purpose based on well-recognised anti-inflammatory effects and potential antiviral properties. In the present study, colchicine was proposed to patients with COVID-19, and its effects compared with ‘standard-of-care’ (SoC).

In a single center study from northern Italy, 140 COVID-19 inpatients were treated with standard of care (SoC: hydroxychloroquine and/or intravenous dexamethasone; and/or lopinavir/ritonavir). These were compared with 122 consecutive inpatients who also received colchicine (1 mg/day) and SoC (antiviral drugs were stopped before colchicine, due to potential interaction).

Colchicine treated patients had a better survival rate at 21 days (84.2% vs 63.6%, p=0.001) compared with SOC only.

A lower risk of death was associated with colchicine treatment (HR=0.151 (95% CI 0.062 to 0.368), p<0.0001), whereas a higher mortality risk was seen with older age, worse PaO2/FiO2, and higher serum levels of ferritin at entry.