A new hope of treatment arrives from Italy, but it is only a working hypothesis. Treatment that inhibits the secretion of testosterone, usually prescribed to treat prostate cancer, could help fight Covid-19. The idea came from an Italian urologist, Prof Franco Pagano, also president of the Venetian Institute of Molecular Medicine, who found that men who were on treatment for prostate cancer were less likely to suffer from the coronavirus. . This hypothesis has just been the subject of a study by a professor at the University of Bellinzona (Switzerland) published in the journal Annals of Oncology.
This could explain why men infected with the new coronavirus develop a more aggressive form of the disease than women, according to Professor Andrea Alimonti, from the Università della Svizzera Italiana (Bellinzona, Switzerland).
No evidence of efficacy
Cancer patients have almost twice the risk of Covid. However, when Italian researchers examined patients from Veneto with prostate cancer, they found that only 4 of the 5,273 patients treated with the anti-testosterone had developed Covid-19 and none had died. Of the 37,161 prostate cancer patients not treated with this drug, 114 contracted Covid and 18 died.
The researchers suggest the possibility of a “limited” use of an anti-androgen treatment, to prevent infection with Covid-19 in men. It is, however, far too early to conclude anything. This study provides an argument to explore the effects of this treatment but it does not allow us to conclude that it plays a role in patients infected with the coronavirus.
In addition, one effect of hormone therapy for prostate cancer is impotence, according to AFP Professor Fabrice André, director of research at the Institut Gustave Roussy (IGR, France). Also, he advises against using it before clinical trials confirm its effectiveness.
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