Heartburn medicine Pepcid studied as potential coronavirus treatment

‘If we talked about this to the wrong people or too soon the drug supply would be gone’

Researchers have been studying the possibility of using famotidine as a coronavirus treatment, in a network of hospitals in New York City.

Famotidine is the active ingredient in the over-the-counter medication, Pepcid, that is used to help alleviate heartburn.

According to ABC, on 13 March, researchers at Norwell Health created a study and enrolled people hospitalised due to coronavirus, with the substance given to patients through an IV drip.

The dosage is reported as being nine times the amount normally found in Pepcid, and is being used in combination with antimalarial drug, hydroxychloroquine.

The idea of using the drug came from Dr Michael Callahan, who had been working with Chinese doctors on an unfinished study of the treatment’s effectiveness.

So far, 187 people in the 23 hospital network in New York City have been enrolled on the trial, including patients using ventilators.

They aim to enrol 1,174 people in the trial, and will know in a few weeks if it has worked, according to Science Magazine

Officials at Norwell Health, told the outlet that data on the safety of using the treatment will also be made available in the following weeks.

The head of the Norwell Health’s research team, Kevin Tracey, told the magazine that researchers have kept quiet on the trials, to stop people stocking up on the medicine.

“If we talked about this to the wrong people or too soon, the drug supply would be gone,” he said.

Since the article was published in the magazine, Amazon and Walgreens have experienced shortages of the medicine and CVS are out of stock of the medicine in most New York locations, according to Business Insider.

According to a tracking project hosted by Johns Hopkins University, nationally there are upwards of 989,357 people who have tested positive for coronavirus. The death toll has reached at least 56,368.