A gout drug fights Covid

Covid-19 may not be in the news much anymore, but searches for treatments continue, especially if those treatments are existing meds.

On that note we have probenecid — yeah, that old gout drug. Biotech researchers at UGA’s College of Veterinary Medicine tested probenecid on patients with mild or moderate Covid over 28 days, and they were happy with the results: “In comparison to other FDA-approved drugs used to treat the virus, probenecid helped clear symptoms several days faster.”

“The most effective treatment,” they say, “is for patients to take 1,000 mg tablets twice daily for approximately five days.”

Next up: Seeing how well probenecid works against other respiratory viruses.

Don’t forget your tickets for Day at the Braves!

Some tickets are still available for GPhA’s 2023 Day at the Braves — Sunday, September 10 at 1:35 pm when Atlanta will be hosting the Pittsburgh Pirates. Don’t wait to order yours!

Our seat block is in the Terrace Reserved Section 240 and tickets are just $50 each.

GPhA’s seating has sold out fast these last two years, so don’t wait — order your tickets today!

WHO updates essential meds list

The World Health Organization will soon release its latest list of essential medications — the drugs “that should be available in all functioning health systems” — bringing the total to 502.

Among the 36 drugs added:

• MS treatments cladribine, glatiramer acetate, and rituximab
• Monoclonal antibody treatments for Ebola anzuvimab and Inmazeb (atoltivimab, maftivimab, and odesivimab)
• Naltrexone and acamprosate for alcohol-use disorder

Not added: obesity drugs like liraglutide or semaglutide because of their “uncertain long-term clinical benefit and safety in this patient population” and the fact that they have to be taken for life.

Georgia lake proves deadly

A Georgia resident is the second person in the past two weeks to die from a brain-eating amoeba — i.e., a Naegleria fowleri infection — likely gotten from swimming in a freshwater lake or pond. (The DPH didn’t release details; the other person was a 2-year-old Nevada girl.)

The disease is almost always fatal because it’s so rarely diagnosed in time for treatment, which includes the antifungal medications amphotericin B and fluconazole and the antibiotics azithromycin and rifampin, according to the CDC.

This is only the sixth case of Naegleria fowleri infection in Georgia since 1962.

Signs of infection include fever, nausea, vomiting, a severe headache, stiff neck, seizures, altered mental state, hallucinations, and [coma].

There’s no way to control or test for the amoeba, so the only advice the CDC gives is that if you’re swimming in a lake or pond avoid getting water in your nose.

Note: A Florida man died earlier this year after using a neti pot with tap water.

FDA approves anti-inflammatory CVD treatment

The FDA has approved Lodoco (aka colchicine) for the prevention and treatment of cardiovascular disease, making it the first anti-inflammatory drug indicated for cardiovascular disease.

“With colchicine, we now have a unique way of lowering cardiovascular risk, which adds to and complements other medications that we currently use.”

Warning: Article includes the phrase “game-changer” three times.

An “atypical” med for pain

Neuropathic pain is tough to treat because those treatments include anticonvulsants and antidepressants — and their side effects. And, of course, opioids for pain have their own problems.

What could work? Tianeptine, the “atypical” antidepressant, according to a multi-university team of researchers.

The results showed that tianeptine had profound pain-relieving properties that lasted well after the drug was no longer present, which suggested it was the drug affected the expression of genes that were critical for the maintenance of pain symptoms.

Tianeptine isn’t approved in the U.S., but it is available by prescription in Europe (except Italy), Asia, and Mexico where it’s used as an antidepressant and for treating asthma and anxiety.

Advantages:

• Treats the chronic pain as well as the depression it can lead to
• Works faster than antidepressants
• Patients don’t build up tolerance
• Low risk of addiction

Disadvantages (as we reported back in 2022): There can be significant side effects and bad reactions, so this isn’t something you want over the counter. In fact, the researchers hope to reduce those side effects now that they’re confident of what tianeptine can do for pain.

“By further refining this molecule, we could arrive at a pain treatment that is more effective, fast acting, and has a mild side effect profile.”

Red ginseng might make hangovers easier

Korean scientists decided to see how Korean red ginseng (KRG) — a traditional folk remedy for everything from diabetes to erectile dysfunction — would work against hangovers, seeing as there’s evidence it can fight addiction.

First they got mice drunk (as one does). Some of them got KRG, some didn’t; then they let them stumble around make bad life decisions. Once everyone was sober, the researchers tested them in mazes to see how they handled withdrawal.

The tests revealed that the mice who had been given alcohol and then KRG retained more of their spatial memory and showed more resilience when the alcohol was removed.

Will Covid surge again?

The World’s Most Depressing Magazine™ wants to remind you that the pandemic part of Covid might be over, but health officials are concerned about the recent and continuing uptick in positive tests and hospitalizations. Could we have “One More COVID Summer?”

The absolute numbers are still small, and they may stay that way. But these are the clear and early signs of a brewing mid-year wave […] which would make this the fourth summer in a row with a distinct coronavirus bump.