The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) is holding a proposal regarding a clinical trial of an affordable and time-tested anti-inflammatory arthritis drug, Indomethacin, which can probably prevent thousands of deaths due to coronavirus infection.

Indomethacin is used to prevent cytokine storm which is an abnormal immune reaction killing COVID-19 patients with other comorbid conditions. The drug generally costs Rs 5 per capsule, whereas Tocilizumab, a drug that is used nowadays to treat cytokine storm, costs Rs 60,000 per dose.

Dr Rajan Ravichandran, a Chennai-based kidney transplant surgeon, had first used indomethacin on his transplant patients in 1989 to prevent cytokine storms. He wrote to ICMR and its counterparts in the US and the UK on 29^th April 2020 suggesting a clinical trial. The UK department of health wrote him back stating that the proposal has been forwarded to its Therapeutic Taskforce, however ICMR is yet to respond on it.

Dr Ravichandran said the drug could be used on coronavirus patients as a repurpose drug. However, a large-scale clinical trial is necessary, given the affordability and the favorable results of the drug in several studies.

Dr Balram Bhargava, ICMR director general told TOI that the council has already received almost 185 such proposals. ICMR, along with department of biotechnology, department of science and technology and the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research are considering into them one at a time.

In the US, doctors have found that the drug was effective in almost 60 COVID-19 patients, better than hydroxycholorquine. A primary care physician in Brooklyn, Dr Jonathan Leibowitz, had used indomethacin on his patients and wrote an email to TOI, stating indomethacin seems to have a positive effect and therefore needs further investigation. He also mentioned that the drug has not been given the deserved importance.

Source:  ET Healthworld