The fast-growing list of possible treatments for the novel coronavirus includes an unlikely candidate: famotidine, the active compound in the over-the-counter heartburn drug Pepcid. On 7 April, the first COVID-19 patients at Northwell Health in the New York City area began receiving famotidine intravenously, at nine times the heartburn dose. Unlike other drugs the 23-hospital system is testing, including Regeneron’s sarilumab and Gilead Science’s remdesivir, As of Saturday, 187 COVID-19 patients in critical status, including many on ventilators, have been enrolled in the trial, which aims for a total of 1174 people.
Plasma Treatment Gives Hope to Long Islanders Fighting Coronavirus
Nearly 300 Long Islanders struggling to recover from the coronavirus have been infused with plasma donated by individuals who have recovered from the potentially deadly virus as part of experimental treatments underway at three hospital systems across the region.Scientists from Stony Brook University’s Renaissance School of Medicine, Northwell Health’s Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research and Catholic Health Services are seeking to determine if the antibodies in plasma from recovering COVID-19 patients can help stop the infection in people who are still battling the virus.