Montreal researchers have found the first oral medication for COVID-19

A major study conducted by the Montreal Heart Institute has concluded that an anti-inflammatory oral medication called colchicine can treat COVID-19, reducing hospitalizations by 25 per cent, the need for mechanical ventilation by 50 per cent and deaths by 44 per cent.

In a Canadian Press report, Dr. Jean-Claude Tardif said that colchicine is the first “effective oral medication to treat out-of-hospital patients” with COVID-19. It has been used for hundreds of years to treat conditions like gout, so it is already readily available in pharmacies and ready to be prescribed.

The $14-million study, which began last spring, was randomized, double-blind and placebo-controlled, involving over 4,500 participants. It was deployed in Canada, the United States, Europe, South America and South Africa.

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