‘A game changer’ — Drug tested in UNC labs shows positive results for COVID-19 treatment
A treatment that reduces recovery time for patients with COVID-19 showed positive results in clinical trials, UNC-Chapel Hill announced Wednesday.
The medication, called remdesivir and originated in the labs at UNC-CH, has been a critical piece of the effort to fight the coronavirus pandemic. On Wednesday, the nation’s coronavirus task force shared the positive results that it accelerates recovery.
The experimental drug is given through an IV and helped patients in the study recover four days quicker on average. The Associated Press reported there was also “a trend toward fewer deaths” among patients being treated with remdesivir, according to Dr. Anthony Fauci, a member of the White House coronavirus task force.
“This is a game changer for the treatment of patients with COVID-19 and provides hope to many infected,” UNC epidemiologist Ralph Baric said in a statement. Baric works in the UNC Gillings School of Public Health that led lab testing of the antiviral drug.
North Carolina patients part of the trial
The study was run by the National Institutes of Health and involved 1,063 hospitalized coronavirus patients around the world, according to the AP. The goal of the study was to evaluate the safety and effectiveness of the drug in treating COVID-19.
About 20 coronavirus patients at Duke University Hospital participated in the first national tests. The patients randomized to receive either the therapy or a placebo and both the doctor and patient were not allowed to know who received the therapy.
They were all adults who had serious symptoms, such as breathing difficulties that require supplemental oxygen or a ventilator, The News & Observer previously reported.
Remdesivir directly attacks the virus by preventing it from reproducing, according to Dr. Cameron Wolfe, the study’s principal investigator.
“Duke’s participation in this national study creates an extra option for potential patients in our community who have serious complications from COVID-19,” Wolfe previously said in a written statement. “Currently, there are no approved therapies for this disease, so we are eager to contribute in any way to help find ways to fight this global pandemic.”
This is the first clinical trial launched in the U.S. to evaluate an experimental treatment for COVID-19, according to the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. Gilead Sciences is the company that developed remdesivir and supplied the drug for the study.
Several other large university medical centers took part in the trial including in Colorado, Minnesota and Massachusetts. The trial began at the University of Nebraska Medical Center in late February.
Potential COVID-19 treatments tested by UNC
The clinical trials for the intravenous drug began this spring as the virus spread, but animal testing for the treatment started at UNC, according to the university.
The UNC lab partnered with the biopharmaceutical company Gilead Sciences Inc. to test the company’s antiviral drugs in 2014.
Tim Sheahan, a virologist in Baric’s lab, said they wanted to see if and how the drugs could curb emerging viral diseases.
UNC-CH researchers also helped develop another potential treatment for COVID-19 that’s being tested in human clinical trials. Previous testing showed the medication can prevent and reduce severe lung damage. And it can be taken as a pill.
“This new drug not only has high potential for treating COVID-19 patients, but also appears effective for the treatment of other serious coronavirus infections,” Baric said about the drug EIDD-2801 in a previous statement.
Baric is William R. Kenan Jr. Distinguished Professor of epidemiology at UNC-Chapel Hill, and the scientists in his lab are working on finding a cure for the coronavirus disease. More than 3 million people have been infected with COVID-19 worldwide and more than 225,000 people have died from it.
This story was originally published April 29, 2020 at 3:26 PM with the headline "‘A game changer’ — Drug tested in UNC labs shows positive results for COVID-19 treatment."
