Colchicine is an anti-inflammatory drug used in rheumatology and particularly for the treatment of gouty arthritis or gout. Colchicine is also used in the treatment of other pathologies such as chronic atrophic polychondritis or acute pericarditis after failure of aspirin. 

Studies have shown that SARS-CoVs activate NLRP3 inflammasomes, intracytoplasmic particles that stimulate the release of pro-inflammatory cytokines. In particular, colchicine is believed to inhibit the assembly of the NLRP3 inflammasome and thus the release of cytokines, in particular interleukin-1 beta and interleukin-6. Colchicine is believed to inhibit certain functions of the inflammasome, a component of the immune system that plays a role in triggering cytokine shock and the associated inflammatory cascade. Targeting the inflammatory response with colchicine may therefore reduce complications related to Covid-19 in adults at risk or with signs of inflammatory storm. Three studies are currently underway to investigate the effects of colchicine on Covid-19, the largest, called COLCORONA, involves 6000 patients in Canada.