Researchers are leaving no stone unturned in testing the drugs that already exist to combat the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
Now, some researchers at Northwell Health, NY, have been discreetly studying the effects of a popular heartburn drug, famotidine, on patients with COVID-19, the illness caused by the novel coronavirus.
Famotidine, the active ingredient of Pepcid, is an over-the-counter medication commonly used to treat heartburn.
Since mid-March, the researchers have been enrolling hospitalized COVID-19 patients into their study of famotidine. They are administering the drug intravenously in higher doses, nine times greater than the standard dose. The participants are receiving famotidine along with an antimalarial drug called hydroxychloroquine.
The researchers said the date on the drug’s safety is expected within a few weeks. They, however, did not reveal when the data will be released or whether the combination of famotidine and hydroxychloroquine is effective.
President and CEO of the Feinstein Institute for Medical Research at Northwell Health, Dr. Kevin Tracey, said the study was being conducted discreetly to avoid media attention and to prevent potential depletion of national supply.
The researchers have been able to enroll more than 180 patients for the study, dividing the participants into two groups. One group receives both famotidine and hydroxychloroquine, while the other group only hydroxychloroquine.
Dr. Tracey said it was his friend and colleague Dr. Michael Callahan who postulated the idea of trying famotidine. Dr. Callahan had recently visited China and worked with some Chinese doctors on a yet-to-be-published study that is reportedly showing that famotidine benefited COVID-19 patients.
“The merit of trying famotidine was supported by additional research, part of a private-public partnership with the federal government, that used the genetic makeup of the virus to pinpoint potentially promising drugs,” Dr. Tracey said.
The researchers hope that the heartburn drug could act as a decoy for the new virus. Famotidine will preoccupy the drug, preventing itself from proliferating and spreading across the body.
Infectious disease specialist Dr. Stuart Ray of Johns Hopkins said he was surprised to know that Northwell researchers are studying famotidine in patients with COVID-19.
Dr. Ray said he is skeptical about preliminary data from China, as it has not been tested in a standard way. However, he said there is some scientific evidence and famotidine, in higher doses, is likely to be safe, unlike hydroxychloroquine.
“I think this sort of off-label repurposing is sensible with drugs for which we have a long safety record,” Dr. Ray. “And we really need a win.”
Dr. Carlos Del Rio, head of the Hubert Department of Global Health at Emory University’s Rollins School of Public Health, has been suspicious about the delay in posting details about the study.
He said researchers must publicly announce their intention to conduct a trial like this before enrolling patients. “Science has to be open, not secretive,” Dr. Del Rio said. “We want transparency in clinical trials.”
Dr. Del Rio went on to say that we have to remain skeptical when it comes to the promise of famotidine.
“In the early years of HIV, we tried a lot of stuff and we thought, ‘Oh this is going to work’ and nothing worked,” he added. “When you have a disease for which there is no treatment, all sorts of different things are tried and everyone is excited about them.”
Meanwhile, Dr. Tracey warned people against using unproven drugs by their own volition. He said, “What we want everybody to do is send us our best wishes that if it works, we can find out quickly.”
