Indomethacin, a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug, has shown excellent efficacy as an antiviral agent in the treatment of mild to moderate Covid-19 patients, according to a study by researchers at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Madras.
The study, conducted at Panimalar Medical College and Research Institute, was led by Rajan Ravichandran, Adjunct Faculty at IIT Madras and Director Nephrology at MIOT hospitals. It was conceptualised and coordinated by R Krishna Kumar, Institute Professor at IIT Madras.
Control group does worse
As part of the study, a total of 210 hospital admitted patients were randomly allocated to two different groups. 107 patients were allotted to a control arm treated with paracetamol with standard care of treatment while 103 patients were administered Indomethacin along with standard care of treatment. The patients were monitored every day for symptoms such as cough, cold, fever and muscle pain along with oxygen saturation.
“None of the 103 patients in the Indomethacin group developed oxygen desaturation. On the other hand, 20 of the 107 patients from the control group were desaturated with oxygen saturation levels below 93 per cent,” said Professor Krishna Kumar while highlighting study results at a press conference held at IIT-Madras campus on Friday.
“Indomethacin group patients recovered from all symptoms in three to four days. It took double the time for the control group. Liver and kidney function tests showed no adverse reaction,” he added.
He added that at fourteenth‐day follow‐up, nearly half the control group patients had several discomfort while a few Indomethacin patients complained only of tiredness.
Anti-inflammatory action
Ravichandran, a noted nephrologist, said Indomethacin is an established drug, widely used since the 1960s to treat various types of inflammation-related diseases. He added that while the drug is known for its anti-inflammatory action, its antiviral action was not well known.
“Knowing that one of the deadly effects of Covid is inflammation and the cytokine storm, we decided to study the non‐steroidal anti‐inflammatory drug Indomethacin. Scientific evidence strongly shows antiviral action against coronavirus. Indomethacin is a safe and well-understood drug. I have been using it in my profession for the past thirty years,” he said.
Published in Nature
The study, funded by Kris Gopalakrishnan, Chairman of Axilor Ventures and an alumnus of IIT Madras, was recently published in the peer-reviewed journal Nature Scientific Report.
During the Q&A session, Ravichandran said, “Indomethacin works with all variants. We had done two trials, one in the first wave and the other in the second wave. The results were the same. I sincerely hope ICMR takes note of this study and includes indomethacin in Covid treatment protocol.”