Could a 3 pence ‘wonder diabetes pill’ treat Covid, cancer, and heart disease? Chinese doctors in Wuhan think so!

Doctors in the Chinese coronavirus epicentre of Wuhan are hailing a cheap pill developed in the 1950s as a new weapon in the battle against killer Covid-19.

THE diabetes drug metformin, which costs just 3p per tablet and is already being used by the NHS, is also emerging as an effective breast cancer and heart disease treatment.

Metformin, is sold as Glucophage and some doctors in China’s Wuhan, where the pandemic started, are hailing it as a ‘wonder drug’ after studies showed it reduced the body’s inflammatory response, inflammation is one of the key causes of death for those with the killer disease.

Earlier this month, experts in Wuhan revealed that the death rate among patients with the coronavirus taking the medication for diabetes was far lower than those that did not. Research by the University of Minnesota in the US also found the drug may be helpful in reducing the risk of death from the virus.

Metformin has the advantage of being cheap and widely available, and so could be distributed to poorer countries. Studies have found it also helps obese people lose weight even if they don’t have diabetes, it has been observed that overweight people are at a greater risk of death from coronavirus.

Scientists even claim the drug could help fight breast cancer, more studies of the drug are planned this year.