Interferon beta23 Mar 2020 13:03
From SPAngel this morning:
'World Health Organisation (WHO) launches multinational COVID-19 trial
Last week, the WHO announced it would initiate a multi-country clinical trial, known as Solidarity, to evaluate potential treatments for COVID-19.
The randomised, open-label trial will test four different treatment combinations which have been highlighted to have potential benefit against coronavirus against standard of care.
The treatments tested will include:
Ritonavir/lopinavir: Antiviral combination (protease inhibitors) approved for HIV patients.
Ritonavir/lopinavir + interferon beta: Antiviral combination plus a modulator of innate immune system.
Chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine: Approved therapies for malaria and certain autoimmune diseases.
Remdesivir: An investigational antiviral (RNA polymerase inhibitor) for Ebola.
An additional trial, led by the French National Research Institute for Medical Research (INSERM), began yesterday.
The trial, known as Discovery, plans to enrol 3,200 patients and test these treatments in European countries.
The choice of treatment in this ‘megatrial’ stems from reports regarding their potential benefit in the treatment of COVID-19 patients. Although the recent reports are encouraging, the efficacy comes from relatively small datasets. A large clinical trial, as initiated by the WHO should provide robust evidence regarding the efficacy of these drugs. The repurposing of existing therapies from other conditions may offer a faster route to a COVID-19 therapy rather than developing a novel treatment. The safety profile has been approved by regulators and manufacturing has already been scaled-up for commercial purposes.'
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