Local Doctors Hopeful For New Treatment In Trials For COVID-19

Doctors are holding out hope they will be able to add this drug to their COVID-19 treatment list.

Tuesday, September 21st 2021, 4:47 pm



The drug is called probenecid. The drug has been around for a long time and has been used to treat gout. 

Doctors said trials in cell cultures and hamsters, which are common, looked promising. Now, the human trials have started. 

Doctors are holding out hope they will be able to add this drug to their COVID-19 treatment list.

"No one is going to say, 'Wow, this is the best thing ever and everyone is really excited,' but it does seem like we are finding something that we can repurpose," said Dr. Mary Clarke, the Oklahoma State Medical Association president.

Clarke said the benefit to testing this drug is that since we have used it for a long time before the safety profile is well known.

"The question is, is the same dosage equivalent for COVID that is going to be safe for use the same as its used for gout treatment?" Clarke said.

Doctors said the drug will stop the virus from reproducing in the body.

"It can't replicate," Clarke said. "So, you get one virus which is really more like a thousand. So, let's say we get one virus and now all of a sudden the virus is sitting there it can't replicate, then it doesn't cause disease."

Right now, doctors only have a couple treatments for COVID-19 like monoclonal antibodies, but Clarke said adding a treatment that's in pill form would be a game changer.

"If there's some oral medications, we can use in an outpatient clinic like mine. We will be a huge, huge step ahead," Clarke said.

Clarke said she's hopeful we will have more information in the next month or two, but she said the main way to protect yourself from COVID-19 is through the vaccine. 

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