Via The Guardian: Aspirin to be tested in UK as potential coronavirus treatment | World news | The Guardian.
Thousands of coronavirus patients in Britain will be given aspirin as part of a trial to determine whether the painkiller can reduce the risk of dangerous blood clots.
The cheap and widely available drug has been added to a list of potential treatments to be tested as part of the Randomised Evaluation of Covid-19 therapy (Recovery) trial, one of the biggest in Britain.
People infected with coronavirus seem to have hyper-reactive platelets, the cell fragments that help stop bleeding, which means that they are at higher risk of potentially deadly blood clots, scientists say.
Experts hope that aspirin, an anti-platelet agent which is commonly used as a blood thinner, can reduce the possibility of clotting complications.
“Aspirin is widely used to prevent blood clots in many other conditions, including heart attack, stroke, and pre-eclampsia in pregnant women,” said Prof Martin Landray, co-chief investigator of the trial.
“But enrolling patients in a randomised trial such as Recovery is the only way to assess whether there are clear benefits for patients with Covid-19 and whether those benefits outweigh any potential side-effects such as the risk of bleeding.”
At least 2,000 patients are expected to get 150mg of aspirin daily along with the usual regimen. Data from those patients will be compared with at least 2,000 other patients who receive the standard Covid-19 treatment on its own.
