Thailand to participate in WHO international COVID treatments trials

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

Saw this is yesterday's COVID 19 daily update from Johns Hopkins in the U.S.

 

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WHO LAUNCHES MULTINATIONAL TRIAL FOR COVID-19 TREATMENTS The WHO announced that it will soon launch a major trial of prospective COVID-19 treatments . The trial, referred to as the SOLIDARITY trial, will assess possible therapies to treat COVID-19 infections across at least 10 countries. Trial countries include Argentina, Bahrain, Canada, France, Iran, Norway, South Africa, Spain, Switzerland, and Thailand. Four trial arms consisting of drugs or combinations of drugs will be tested against a control arm consisting of standard supportive care. The trial arms will consist of remdesivir; a combination of lopinavir and ritonavir; lopinavir, ritonavir, and interferon-beta; and chloroquine. All 4 options have shown some evidence of effectiveness against SARS-CoV-2 in either in vitro or animal models. After the announcement, research was published that indicates studies in China that assessed lopinavir-ritonavir treatment combinations did not find strong results in the study population. 

 

https://www.statnews.com/2020/03/18/who-to-launch-multinational-trial-to-jumpstart-search-for-coronavirus-drugs/

 

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Four drugs or drug combinations already licensed and used for other illnesses will be tested, said WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. Ten countries have already indicated they will take part in the trial.
 

The mere fact the WHO is sponsoring the trial suggests that efforts in China to test these drugs may not have come up with enough data to indicate whether any were of use to prevent patients from developing severe disease or save those with severe disease from death.

 

The study, which Tedros said he hopes other countries will join, has been named the SOLIDARITY trial. Countries that have already signed on are: Argentina, Bahrain, Canada, France, Iran, Norway, South Africa, Spain, Switzerland, and Thailand.

 

 

Edited March 20, 2020 by TallGuyJohninBKK

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

 

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Approved HIV treatment offers no benefit for adults with COVID-19

Baden LR, et al. N Engl J Med. 2020;doi:10.1056/NEJMe2005477.

Cao B, et al. N Engl J Med. 2020;doi:10.1056/NEJMoa2001282.

March 19, 2020

 Treatment with lopinavir-ritonavir, a combination treatment for HIV, did not significantly advance the time to clinical improvement, decrease mortality or lower the detectable level of throat viral RNA among patients with serious cases of COVID-19, according to data from a recent study in The New England Journal of Medicine.
 

“Beginning in December 2019, a novel coronavirus, designated SARS-CoV-2, has caused an international outbreak of respiratory illness termed COVID-19,” Bin Cao, MD, of the Department of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine and the Center of Respiratory Medicine at the National Clinical Research Center for Respiratory Diseases and the China-Japan Friendship Hospital, and the Institute of Respiratory Medicine at the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, and colleagues wrote. 
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“We found that lopinavir-ritonavir treatment did not significantly accelerate clinical improvement, reduce mortality or diminish throat viral RNA detectability in patients with serious COVID-19,” the authors concluded. “These early data should inform future studies to assess this and other medication in the treatment of infection with SARS-CoV-2. 

 

 

 

https://www.healio.com/infectious-disease/emerging-diseases/news/online/{31c53a0d-080b-45e2-a577-1d805290db4a}/treatment-with-lopinavir-ritonavir-offers-no-benefit-for-adults-with-covid-19

 

 

Edited March 20, 2020 by TallGuyJohninBKK