Dr Richard Bartlett Budesonide Protocol

Dr. Richard Bartlett shared with ACWT (America Can We Talk) about how asthma medicine Budesonide emptied a hospital ICU after being used to treat coronavirus. 

Richard Bartlett made waves in a July 2, 2020 interview (the video has been removed for violating YouTube's Community Guidelines) that already has racked up 4.1 million views online. In the interview, Bartlett, who has practiced medicine for 28 years and was part of former Texas Gov. Rick Perry’s Health Disparities Task Force, boasted a 100% survival rate for his patients since March 2020 by using his treatment strategy, centered around an inhaled steroid called budesonide.

“We have cracked the case,” the doctor said. He emphatically doubled down in an interview last week: “The cat is out of the bag. We have an answer for this. We don’t need another answer.” 

Well, with COVID-19, nothing has been that simple. But the “silver bullet,” as Bartlett called it, isn’t new at all, which is part of what makes it so intriguing. And despite very reasonable pushback from some sectors of the medical community, it’s worth a closer look.

For more than 20 years, doctors have prescribed budesonide, an anti-inflammatory, as preventive medicine for asthmatics. Inhaled corticosteroids, in fact, have been used for some time in patients of all ages, and very safely. On a theoretical basis, employing steroids to fight COVID-19 makes practical sense.

Many visitors have requested that we make the two documents below available in printable form; these links are to pdf file that should be printable: (1) Dr. Bartlett’s letter to Senator Hall; and (2) Dr. Bartlett’s primary paper (updated).

UPDATES: 

• Inhaled budesonide in the treatment of early COVID-19 (STOIC) (from The Lancet - April 2021)
• The recent study by Oxford University (randomized control trial) showed a 90% reduction in hospitalization for people with COVID.
• COVID-19 is a highly dynamic topic. Please refer to the latest FLCCC protocol (April 26, 2021 version).

Below are links to a peer-reviewed studies, articles in medical journals, or news articles regarding the efficacy of budesonide.

Medical Journal Articles or Studies

• Common asthma treatment reduces need for hospitalisation [by 90%] in COVID-19 patients, study suggests (University of Oxford)
• Pathophysiological Basis and Rationale for Early Outpatient Treatment of SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) Infection – ScienceDirect (from the American Journal of Medicine)
• Multifaceted highly targeted sequential multidrug treatment of early ambulatory high-risk SARS-CoV-2 infection (COVID-19) (Reviews in Cardiovascular Medicine)
• Inhaled corticosteroids and COVID-19: a systematic review and clinical perspective (from European Respiratory Journal)
• Inhaled corticosteroids in virus pandemics: a treatment for COVID-19? (From The Lancet)
• SARS-CoV-2 and The Case for Empirical Treatment (The Global Journal of Science Frontier Research – Volume 20, Issue 4)
• Pathophysiological Basis and Rationale for Early Outpatient Treatment of SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) Infection (US National Library of Medicine National Institutes of Health)
• Budesonide facilitates weaning from mechanical ventilation in difficult-to-wean very severe COPD patients (US National Library of Medicine National Institutes of Health)
• Effect of nebulized budesonide on respiratory mechanics and oxygenation in acute lung injury/acute respiratory distress syndrome (US National Library of Medicine National Institutes of Health)

News Reports & Studies

• Common asthma drug cuts COVID-19 hospitalization risk, recovery time – Oxford study (Reuters)
• Common asthma drug cuts need to send Covid patients to hospital by 90 per cent and shortens recovery time, Oxford University scientists say (The Daily Mail)
• Common asthma drug can reduce COVID hospitalizations by 90% — study (The Times of Israel)
• Common asthma drug slashes Covid hospitalisation by 90%, experts say (The Sun)
• Coronavirus: Inhaling this can reduce COVID severity by 90 per cent, claims study (The Times of India)
• University of Oxford Does it Again! Now Showing that AstraZeneca’s Pulmicort Reduces COVID-19 Hospitalization Rate by 90% (Trial Site news)
• Common asthma treatment reduces need for hospitalization in COVID-19 patients, study suggests (Medical Express)
• Study finds that inhaled budesonide can reduce severity of and speed recovery from COVID-19 (OINDP News)
• Some Texas Doctors Are Treating COVID Patients With A ‘Silver Bullet’ Drug (Texas Standard)
• Is a new steroid treatment a miracle solution for COVID-19—or is it snake oil? (Fortune Magazine)

Below are links to studies or articles about the efficacy or success of some of the other remedies we recommend for prevention and treatment.

• Iota-Carrageenan Nasal Spray in the prophylaxis of COVID-19 (Betadine Cold Defence Nasal Spray)
• Nitric Oxide Nasal Spray and COVID-19
• Betadine (Povidone Iodine) and Coronavirus
• Mouthwash eliminates coronavirus in 30 seconds… in the lab (BBC Science Focus)
• Library of Articles and Studies on the success of the H2Bev drinks (H2Bev website)
• Vitamin D can help reduce coronavirus risk by 54%: Boston University doctor (Boston Herald)

Clinical Research

There are several open-label studies currently open to recruitment examining the role of inhaled budesonide in COVID-19 infection (ISRCTN86534580, NCT04355637, NCT04331054) and others investigating the role of inhaled ciclesonide (NCT04330586, NCT04377711, NCT04381364, NCT04356495); whether these studies also show an effect on long COVID will be of importance.

Editor's Note and Key Takeaway

Inhaled corticosteroids (budesonide): Unclear benefit. 

Two recent Randomised Controlled Trials (STOIC 2021, PRINCIPLE 2021) have demonstrated more rapid symptomatic improvement in ambulatory patients with COVID-19 treated with inhaled budesonide, however, there was no difference in the rate of hospitalization. It should be noted that both these studies were open label (no placebo in the control arm) and that the primary end-point was subjective (time to symptom resolution). Corticosteroids downregulate the expression of interferons (hosts primary antiviral defenses) and downregulated ACE-2 expression (harmful). 

Furthermore, two population level studies (Lancet Resp Med 2021, OpenSAFELY 2021) suggest that inhaled corticosteroids may increase the risk of death in patients with COVID-19. [175,176] Based on these data the role of inhaled corticosteroids in the early phase of COVID-19 is unclear. 

Note: COVID-19 is a highly dynamic topic. Please refer to the latest FLCCC protocol (April 26, 2021 version).