Covid: Blood thinner ineffective for patients, trial finds

The trial involved patients in hospitals across the UK

A possible treatment for severe Covid "puts patients at risk for no clear benefit", a trial found.

More than 1,000 people took part in the UK-wide trial of the blood thinner Apixaban while in hospital with Covid.

The Addenbrooke's Hospital and University of Cambridge study aims to find a treatment to prevent death from Covid, and readmission to hospital.

It found the drug had no impact, but some patients did experience side effects including major bleeding.

'Change medical practice'

Dr Mark Toshner, joint chief investigator for the trial, said it had been assumed that Apixaban could help patients recover from severe Covid.

"This trial is the first robust evidence that longer anticoagulation after acute Covid-19 puts patients at risk for no clear benefit," he said.

"Our hope is that these results will stop this drug being needlessly prescribed to patients with Covid-19 and we can change medical practice."

Speaking to the BBC last year, Dr Charlotte Summers said the drugs were "relatively cheap" and "widely available"

The study found a small number of the 402 patients receiving Apixaban had to discontinue treatment due to major bleeding, a known side-effect.

Prof Charlotte Summers, an intensive care specialist at Addenbrooke's and the University of Cambridge, was the chief investigator for the trial.

"This finding is important because it will prevent unnecessary harm occurring to people for no benefit," she said.

"It also means we must continue our search for therapies that improve longer-term recovery for this devastating disease.

"There is an urgent need for us to find treatments that prevent this significant burden of illness and improve the lives of so many still being affected by Covid."

The trial, funded by National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) and the Cambridge NIHR Biomedical Research Centre, will continue to test another medicines - a statin called atorvastatin that acts on other mechanisms of disease that are thought to be important in Covid.