Coronavirus Drug and Vaccine Studies Are Recruiting Their First Volunteers
s COVID-19 continues to spread both around the world and in the U.S., two separate efforts to find a medical solution to the virus are moving forward. At the University of Nebraska, the
have volunteered to test an experimental drug to treat COVID-19. And at Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute, researchers have begun recruiting people to test a possible vaccine.cruise ship were brought to Nebraska for quarantine; two of these passengers have agreed to participate in a trial for, an antiviral drug originally developed for Ebola, but which showed encouraging results in animals in fighting SARS and MERS, two other illnesses caused by coronaviruses.
The drug is designed to treat infections that are moderate to severe, and is targeted to those with the most intensive symptoms. In order to qualify for the remdesivir study, run by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases , patients must test positive for COVID-19 and have pneumonia. Of the more than two dozen people diagnosed with COVID-19 from the cruise ship who were brought to Nebraska for quarantine, four required hospitalization and two developed pneumonia.
The study will eventually include 400 patients; initial results won’t be analyzed until the first 100 have completed treatment. Given the relatively low rate of moderately to severely affected patients in the US at this point, Kalil says that NIAID plans to collaborate with health officials from other countries with higher case volumes, including Korea, Japan and Italy. For now, the trial will stay open for three years in order to recruit the needed number of patients.
Meanwhile, other labs are working on developing vaccines that would provide some protection against the virus in the first place. Thethat is furthest along is currently recruiting its first participants at Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute. Unlike the remdesivir trial, this study will enroll healthy volunteers. Dr. Lisa Jackson, lead investigator on the study, says 45 healthy people will be recruited to test three different doses of the vaccine.
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