Stopping the spread: Researchers target COVID-19
NEWS RELEASE: Katie Pence, Assistant Director Media Relations
CINCINNATI, OH (April 22, 2020) – With initial approval of the protocol from the Mayo Clinic for patients, the UC College of Medicine and UC Health are continuing to move forward with a number of additional clinical trials to examine potential treatments for the disease.
Dr. Moises Huaman of the UC College of Medicine Division of Infectious Diseases outside his office at Holmes Hospital. (Photo/Colleen Kelley/UC Creative + Brand)
Dr. Brett Kissela, the Albert Barnes Voorheis chair and professor of the UC Department of Neurology and Rehabilitation Medicine and senior associate dean for clinical research at the UC College of Medicine, says the clinical trial approval process is being expedited because of the urgent need to find treatments.
He says UC is involved in about 1,000 active clinical studies across the academic health system at any given time, so the university and health system are more than equipped to take on the “dozens upon dozens” of COVID-19 studies that are coming through the pipeline.
Among the trials now available is an antiviral therapy intended to stop the spread of the virus. UC and UC Health are working alongside Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center to offer this treatment for both children and adults. The study, sponsored by Ansun Biopharma, will investigate if this experimental treatment can decrease the amount of infection in patients with COVID-19 pneumonia. Dr. Carl Fichtenbaum is leading the UC arm of the study.
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Dr. Carl Fichtenbaum, professor in the Division of Infectious Diseases at the UC College of Medicine and a UC Health physician, says clinical trials for COVID-19 will help researchers find out why, how and who these new treatments could help. (Photo/Joseph Fuqua II/UC Creative + Brand)