A clinical trial for a drug to treat COVID-19, or coronavirus, has begun at the University of Nebraska Medical Center.The trial regulatory sponsor is the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, part of the National Institutes of Health. This is the first clinical trial in the United States to evaluate an experimental treatment for COVID-19, the respiratory disease first detected in December 2019 in Wuhan, Hubei Province, China. The randomized, controlled clinical trial of the investigational antiviral remdesivir is being tested by hospitalized adults diagnosed with coronavirus disease. Remdesivir is an investigational broad-spectrum antiviral treatment.The first trial participant is an American who was brought to Omaha after being quarantined on the Diamond Princess cruise ship that docked in Yokohama, Japan and volunteered to participate in the study.There are no specific therapeutics approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to treat people with COVID-19.As of Feb. 24, the World Health Organization (WHO) has reported 77,262 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 2,595 deaths in China and 2,069 cases of COVID-19 and 23 deaths in 29 other countries. There have been 14 confirmed COVID-19 cases reported in the United States and an additional 39 cases among persons repatriated to the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).Dr. Andre Kalil, the infectious diseases specialist and professor of internal medicine who is leading the first clinical trial for the first drug to treat COVID-19, spoke to the media and answered questions in the video below: Kalil said the goal for the trial is to test 400 patients. The patients will be given the drug within 72 hours of diagnosis. The trial will be international but is beginning in Nebraska. Half of the patients will be given the drug and half will be given a placebo. "We should have the results in a year or even less ... at least the preliminary results," he said. "In order to be in the trial, they need to be a little sicker than a mild disease," Kalil said, adding that candidates should have pneumonia in the lungs or lung infection. "The goal here is to help the people who need it the most," he said.
OMAHA, Neb. — A clinical trial for a drug to treat COVID-19, or coronavirus, has begun at the University of Nebraska Medical Center.
The trial regulatory sponsor is the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, part of the National Institutes of Health. This is the first clinical trial in the United States to evaluate an experimental treatment for COVID-19, the respiratory disease first detected in December 2019 in Wuhan, Hubei Province, China.
The randomized, controlled clinical trial of the investigational antiviral remdesivir is being tested by hospitalized adults diagnosed with coronavirus disease. Remdesivir is an investigational broad-spectrum antiviral treatment.
The first trial participant is an American who was brought to Omaha after being quarantined on the Diamond Princess cruise ship that docked in Yokohama, Japan and volunteered to participate in the study.
There are no specific therapeutics approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to treat people with COVID-19.
As of Feb. 24, the World Health Organization (WHO) has reported 77,262 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 2,595 deaths in China and 2,069 cases of COVID-19 and 23 deaths in 29 other countries. There have been 14 confirmed COVID-19 cases reported in the United States and an additional 39 cases among persons repatriated to the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Dr. Andre Kalil, the infectious diseases specialist and professor of internal medicine who is leading the first clinical trial for the first drug to treat COVID-19, spoke to the media and answered questions in the video below:
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Kalil said the goal for the trial is to test 400 patients. The patients will be given the drug within 72 hours of diagnosis.
The trial will be international but is beginning in Nebraska. Half of the patients will be given the drug and half will be given a placebo.
"We should have the results in a year or even less ... at least the preliminary results," he said.
"In order to be in the trial, they need to be a little sicker than a mild disease," Kalil said, adding that candidates should have pneumonia in the lungs or lung infection.
"The goal here is to help the people who need it the most," he said.