Medical researchers at the University of Kentucky are launching a clinical trial for experimental therapies to treat COVID-19 patients. The team is looking for recently diagnosed patients with at least one high risk condition like diabetes, cancer, or obesity who have not developed severe symptoms.
Dr. Zach Porterfield, an infectious disease expert and virologist said the oral drug focused trial aims at finding a treatment to keep patients’ condition from worsening. “If we had a medication or drug that would improve or decrease the rates at which patients would transition from home to the hospital or from a non-critically ill hospital bed to a critically ill ICU bed, that really would be a game changer and a home run,” said Porterfield.
The clinical trial will investigate the effectiveness of three drugs that could inhibit replication of the virus that causes the disease. The three will be tested either as stand-alone therapies or in combination with the antimalarial drug hydroxychloroquin.
UK Markey Cancer Center Oncologist Dr. Susanne Arnold said the critically ill are served by many national trials across the United States and the world. “Where we see a need or saw a need in Kentucky most especially is in that group of patients who are at risk of development of critical illness as they are tested and found to have the virus,” explained Arnold.
The plan is to enroll 240 patients who have at least one high risk feature over the course of the study. Commenting on moving from a concept to patient enrollment in three weeks, Arnold said she’s never been involved in anything that’s moved that fast.?
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