Anti-inflammatory drugs

Anti-inflammatory drugs

Subject: Science and Tech

Context: The World Health Organization (WHO) said on Wednesday a clinical trial in 52 countries would study three anti-inflammatory drugs as potential treatments for COVID-19 patients.

Concept:

• These therapies – artesunate, imatinib and infliximab – were selected by an independent expert panel for their potential in reducing the risk of death in hospitalised COVID-19 patients
• Artesunate is already used for severe malaria, imatinib for certain cancers, and infliximab for diseases of the immune system such as Crohn’s Disease and rheumatoid arthritis.
• The original Solidarity trial last year found that all four treatments evaluated – remdesivir, hydroxychloroquine, lopinavir/ritonavir and interferon – had little or no effect in helping COVID patients.
• So far, only corticosteroids have been proven effective against severe and critical COVID-19.

NSAIDs

• NSAIDs or non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs are those medications used for reducing pain (analgesic), decreasing fever (anti-pyretic), preventing blood clots (anti-thrombotic) and decreasing inflammation (anti-inflammatory).
• NSAIDs are also used to treat non-inflammatory conditions such as migraine, period pain and postoperative pain, and to reduce fever.
• Some commonly used NSAIDs include: aspirin (such as Disprin), ibuprofen (such as Nurofen) , naproxen (such as Naprosyn), diclofenac (such as Voltaren), celecoxib (such as Celebrex).