science

New York hospitals trial new drug in hopes of coronavirus breakthrough


Doctors in China found that elderly survivors of COVID-19 were taking the drug famotidine, which is available in over the counter heartburn medication.

Northwell Health in New York has tested the drug on 1,174 patients, 187 of whom were critically ill.

The clinical trial started on Saturday with the patients taking famotidine while in the hospitals care.

Kevin Tracey, a former neurosurgeon in charge of Northwell’s research told Science magazine interim results from 391 patients should be available in “a few weeks.”

Interest in the drug amid the pandemic developed after doctors in Wuhan found that although one in five COVID-19 patients over the age of 80 were dying, of the survivors, many were taking pills for heartburn.

READ MORE: New research reveals genes are linked to coronavirus symptoms

Wuhan doctors discovered that the poorer elderly people had a higher survival rate because of their choice of heartburn medication.

The poor patients used famotidine, sold under the brand name Pepcid in the US and UK, because it was cheaper than omeprazole, which is sold as Prilosec.

In a review of 6,212 medical records, with many patients on ventilators, the doctors in China found that only 14 percent of the elderly people using famotidine died while 27 percent of elderly people on omeprazole passed away.

Scientists believe that in COVID-19, famotidine binds to the papainlike protease, an enzyme which helps viruses replicate in the body and stops them replicating.

On April 14, the US Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), which operates under Kadlec, gave Florida-based Alchem Laboratories, a $20.7 million contract for the experiments with heartburn medication.

The money is reported to cover most of Northwell’s trials upfront cost.

Doctors have only been able to gather enough patients to test on because many are undergoing trials of anti-malarial drug hydroxychloroquine.

A group of patients on hydroxychloroquine and famotidine will be compared to those on just hydroxychloroquine as well as hundreds treated early on in the COVID-19 outbreak.

The FDA has recently warned against using the anti-malaria drug hydroxychloroquine on coronavirus patients outside of hospital settings or clinical trials.

Patients treated with hydroxychloroquine are no better off than those who don’t receive the drug hailed by Trump as a ‘game-changer’ according to the results of a New York state Health Department trial.

Governor Andrew Cuomo said during CNN’s coronavirus town hall: “I think from the review that I heard basically it was not seen as a positive, not seen as a negative.”

The US has reached a landmark 1,007,514 cases of COVID-19, the first country in the world to reach over a million.



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