Famotidine Shows More Promise for Hospitalized COVID-19 Patients

A second study evaluating the use of the popular heartburn drug famotidine in patients with severe COVID-19 has found that the treatment reduced deaths and the need for intubation.

The observational study at Connecticut’s Hartford Hospital included 83 elderly hospitalized patients. In addition to a decreased risk of in-hospital mortality or intubation, the treatment led to lower levels of serum markers that indicate severe disease in patients.

They warned, however, that their findings “should be interpreted with caution in light of the single-center, retrospective and observational nature of the study.” The data are currently being reviewed for publication by the American Journal of Gastroenterology.

Famotidine has shown positive results in other COVID-19 trials in both hospitalized and non-hospitalized patients. The Connecticut researchers noted a retrospective cohort study of 1,620 hospitalized patients that corroborated the results of their own study.

The heartburn drug is currently being evaluated in multiple trials, including a phase 3 study by Northwell Health in combination with either hydroxychloroquine or Gilead Sciences’ remdesivir. — James Miessler