…And – Another Helpful Drug!

By Shlomo Maital

   Why do many COVID-19 sufferers die? A group of researchers at Hadassah Medical Center, Jerusalem, may have found a major cause.  

   Many COVID-19 patients die when blood clots form and damage key organs. According to the Jerusalem Post: “Hadassah researchers discovered that patients who form fatal blood clots have an increased level of alpha defensin protein in their blood.”

   At least 30% of patients with coronavirus develop blood clots that block the flow of blood to their kidneys, heart and brain, as well as the lungs, according to international research.

     The research team has discovered what they believe causes coronavirus patients to become seriously ill and even die. They also say they have a way to treat the cause before it’s too late.

   According to Jerusalem Post’s Maayan Jaffe-Hoffman, “The Hadassah team studied more than 700 blood samples from 80 patients who were admitted to the medical center during the first peak of the coronavirus outbreak in Israel. The results show that alpha defensin speeds up blood clot formation, which can cause pulmonary embolism, heart attacks and stroke. In addition, when blood clots form in the alveoli, whose function it is to exchange oxygen and carbon dioxide molecules to and from the bloodstream, this can lead to respiratory distress and eventually intubation. [Alveoli are the tiny air sacs at the end of the bronchioles (tiny branches of air tubes in the lungs)]”..

     Multiple studies have shown that around 80% of coronavirus patients who are intubated have died,  The Hadassah team is en route to a solution: administering the drug colchicine to coronavirus patients.    Colchicine is an approved drug used in the prevention and treatment of gout attacks, caused by too much uric acid in the blood.

     They have completed testing colchicine on mice and found that it successfully inhibited the release of alpha defensin. Now, they are waiting for the necessary approvals to test it on human coronavirus patients.

   The researchers said that clinical trials would look at use of the drug both for severe cases and administering it to patients with mild or moderate symptoms to see if it will help decrease the chances of their developing a severe case of the disease.