National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, NIH A press release from a Canadian research group raised hopes that treating people recently diagnosed with Covid-19 with colchicine, a drug commonly used to treat gout, could reduce the risk they will need to be hospitalized. But outside experts said the data provided were too limited to draw conclusions, leading to discussions of the risks of conducting science via press release, instead of in more detailed manuscripts in peer-reviewed journals. All hoped that colchicine, a cheap and globally available generic medicine with manageable side effects, would prove to be beneficial. “I’m not, ‘Oh, I don’t buy it’,” said Ashish Jha, dean of the Brown University School of Public Health. “It’s possible. There’s enough plausibility here. This could be a real finding, and if it is that would be great. But this press release doesn’t get us there.”