Colchicine as monotherapy in phase 1 and for complications prevention in phase 2 or 3
Based on the large number of data available on the efficacy of colchicine as monotherapy in the prevention of FMF and in the prevention of recurrent pericarditis, we believe that the drug can be used at common doses used for these diseases. In this phase 1, a practical approach could be to use low initial doses (0.5 mg/day) as a preventive method to avoid moving to phase two and/or three and at the same time give the possibility to use this therapy also in combination with antivirals to decrease the viral load and wait for the immune system reaction against the infection. Used at standard doses, colchicine shows a good tolerability profile and no immunosuppressive effect is expected. This is very important to fight the first phase. In addition, in this phase, the non-administration of immunosuppressants or glucocorticoids may be useful to avoid a decrease of the immune system.