A coronavirus infection may be cured by a common heartburn medicine. Experts have claimed that a popular heartburn drug called famotidine can be used to fight mild to moderately severe cases of COVID-19.
According to SciNews' latest report, famotidine does not interact with other medications and has been safely used for the suppression of gastric acid production over a wide range of oral doses from 20mg once a day, up to 160mg four times a day.
Also Read: COVID-19 Update: China Issues White Paper Endorsing Traditional Chinese Medicine to Cure 92% of Its Cases
The results of the small case study, which was published in the journal Gut, showed that oral famotidine is linked with improved outcomes in non-hospitalized patients with the coronavirus. Governments, the global population, and the biomedical community are facing a major challenge when it comes to managing patients with COVID-19 caused by the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus.
Also Read: [COVID-19 Update] Ocean Floor Now Has 'More Masks Than Jellyfish" as Coronavirus Trash Piles Up
It was reported that most of the medical research currently being conducted has focused on pharmacological treatment strategies or vaccine development for hospitalized patients with COVID-19. However, other experts are also focusing on effective treatment strategies for non-hospitalized patients to decrease the mortality and morbidity rate.
The new study revealed a possible new candidate drug, which belongs to a class of drugs known as a histamine-2 receptor. "Our case series suggests, but does not establish, a benefit from famotidine treatment in outpatients with COVID-19," said Dr. Tobias Janowitz, a researcher at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory.
COVID-19 cases can possibly be cured by heartburn drug famotidine; Vaccine takes 10-15 years but may be available soon experts claimed
The study for the heartburn drug consists of 10 people (4 women and 6 men) who developed the coronavirus infection. All of the participants were reported to have been taking famotidine during their infection stage. These people were between 23 to 71 years old, had a diverse range of ethnic backgrounds, and known risk factors for coronavirus severity, including obesity and high blood pressure.
Meanwhile, CNET reported that experts have claimed that the coronavirus vaccine will soon be ready early by 2021. Researchers stated that a new vaccine that is under development at Oxford University in the U.K. could be ready by the fall of 2020. The vaccine candidate that Oxford and the pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca is currently working on is expected to begin simultaneous Phase 2 and Phase 3 trials this month.
According to CNET's latest report, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease, Dr. Anthony Fauci, suggested that to effectively eradicate COVID-19 from the planet, several different vaccines should be made and distributed by different labs. Since vaccines are a medical treatment developed to protect the human body from a viral disease, experts said that it might take about 10-15 years to create because it needs to thorough medical trials to ensure its safety before it can be distributed to millions or billions of infected people across the globe.
