H2 Blockers and coronavirus

Here is an interesting article about famotidine and coronavirus.  I am posting because some of us take cimetidine, an H2 blocker (cimetidine, famotidine, nizatidine and ranitidine).  If this catches fire on the internet, there is a chance H2 blockers including cimetidine could sell out.  It might be time to re-stock now.  Hopefully not, but look at what happened with toilet paper. . . 

https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/04/new-york-clinical-trial-quietly-tests-heartburn-remedy-against-coronavirus

Anecdotal evidence has encouraged the Northwell researchers. After speaking to Tracey, David Tuveson, director of the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Cancer Center, recommended famotidine to his 44-year-old sister, an engineer with New York City hospitals. She had tested positive for COVID-19 and developed a fever. Her lips became dark blue from hypoxia. She took her first megadose of oral famotidine on 28 March. The next morning, her fever broke and her oxygen saturation returned to a normal range. Five sick coworkers, including three with confirmed COVID-19, also showed dramatic improvements upon taking over-the-counter versions of the drug, according a spreadsheet of case histories Tuveson shared with Science. Many COVID-19 patients recover with simple symptom-relieving medications, but Tuveson credits the heartburn drug. “I would say that was a penicillin effect,” he says.

Update: https://www.businessinsider.com/heartburn-medicine-pepcid-shortages-famotidine-studied-coronavirus-covid-treatment-2020-4

The active ingredient in many heartburn medications is being studied as a coronavirus treatment, leading to shortages of popular heartburn brands at major US pharmacies.