Reports are in that hospitals in New York have started testing a new drug called famotidine for coronavirus treatment.
Dr. Kevin Tracy, president of Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research, said that the results of the new coronavirus treatment will be out in a couple of weeks.
He further informed that they plan on testing a total of 1,200 patients. The total number of patients so far tested is 187.
Dr. Tracy also said that this coronavirus treatment is inexpensive, readily available in the market, and can be used on a large scale. However, he warned people to not raise their hopes as of yet as the result is yet to come and there is a slight possibility that it might not work.
He also mentioned that the patients were required to take 9 times more doses of the drug than is normally taken by patients suffering from heartburn.
New Coronavirus Treatment influenced by Chinese medicine practices
Researchers admitted that they decided to try out famotidine after they realized that COVID-19 patients in China improved their health after taking the drug.
Research on Chinese patients is yet to be published.
Dr. Michael Callahan, a disease specialist, said that he has been working alongside Chinese specialists. He explained that his team observed a higher rate of survival amongst patients with lower income. Studies revealed that most of the lower-income patients also suffered from heartburn and were taking famotidine.
Dr. Tracy also informed that the patients in Northwell were still on hydroxychloroquine. He said that half the patients are being treated using famotidine along with hydroxychloroquine. The rest of the patients are being treated by giving intravenous saline as a placebo.
Hydroxychloroquine became famous for coronavirus treatment after president Trump promoted the drug as a possible cure to the novel coronavirus. No medical research has provided any evidence for it yet.
