Dr. Howard Smith Oncall

  Vidcast:  https://youtu.be/kvkFU8vkyyw   The stomach acid suppressing drug famotidine reduces the risk of death from CoVid in hospitalized patients by 70%.  Clinicians at Columbia, New York Presbyterian Hospital, and Northwell Health studied 340 patients with severe CoVid19 infections.   Famotidine was used at home prior to admission by 15% who were also given it in-hospital.  Only 1% of controls had used the drug before admission.  The drug was administered orally in 72% of patients and IV in 28% for a median period of nearly 6 days.  Those receiving the drug showed a 16% reduction in their blood ferritin levels suggesting famotidine reduces the cytokine storm.   The researchers are planning studies giving the drug prophylactically.   https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.05.01.20086694v1.full.pdf   #covid #pandemic #famotidine