Dr. Howard Smith Oncall

  Vidcast:  https://youtu.be/mq9ov3lJ1fI   Children with CoVid-induced multiple inflammatory syndrome, MIS-C, recovered more quickly when larazotide, a drug developed and approved for treatment of celiac disease, was added to the usual regimen of steroids and intravenous immune globulins.  Pediatric gastroenterologists at Harvard’s Mass. General Hospital and pathologists at the Brigham & Women’s who originally developed the drug received an FDA compassionate use waiver to use larazotide in severely ill children with MIS-C.   Their initial trial compared the clinical courses of 4 children receiving the enhanced regimen with those who were treated conventionally.  The treated kids resolved this gastrointestinal inflammatory symptoms faster, enjoyed a 10 fold faster decline of their circulating inflammatory proteins, and, most importantly, were able to be discharged home sooner.   These results were so promising that the FDA gave clearance for a now ongoing phase 3 randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlle