Filenews 26 January 2021
Positive in the adoption of colchicine in the therapeutic protocol for the treatment of COVID-19 disease is the Scientific Group of the Ministry of Health, said Assistant Professor of Pathology at the European University of Cyprus and Pathologist specializing in Infection Control, Konstantinos Tsiotis, who said that Epidemiologists are in the process of studying all scientific data on its possible inclusion.
It is noted that the results of a large Canadian study for the administration of colchicine to patients with COVID-19, announced yesterday, indicate a significant benefit, as there was a 44% reduction in mortality, 25% in hospitalization and 50% in the need for intubation.
Dr. Tsoutis, who is also a member of the Scientific Group of the Ministry of Health, points out that it is a safe and disease-tested drug, which reduces the inflammatory reaction of the body.
He further explained that colchicine is a drug, which has a good safety profile, to note that there is a lot of clinical experience, because it is an old anti-inflammatory drug.
"We have experience with colchicine in several diseases, such as pericarditis, arthritis, familial Mediterranean fever. We know this medicine. Being adopted into therapeutic protocols, in addition to other medications, is an easy thing to do. What remains to be done is to look more at the data in more detail," he said.
He noted that "because it is a safe medicine it is easy to adopt", adding that the Scientific Panel should see some individual elements, such as which groups of patients should be administered, what is the way you monitor the patient's course and their response to the drug.
Under what conditions will it be granted to Greece
Greece has already added colchicine to its therapeutic protocol, and it is recalled that the GRECO-19 study pioneered the study of the action of colchicine in covid-19 patients.
Colchicine will be administered in the form of a pill, after medical evaluation and prescription and after a positive molecular test.
Treatment with colchicine will be received by patients over 60 years of age, regardless of whether they have underlying diseases and patients aged 18-60 years with at least one underlying disease or fever greater than 38oC.
Colchicine will only be given with a prescription and monitoring and the simultaneous use of erythromycin, clarithromycin, azithromycin, cyclosporin and verapamil is prohibited.
Source: CYPE
