Novant Health patients join second phase of COVID-19 clinic trials
Novant Health will be the first healthcare system in the southeastern United States to initiate Phase 2 clinical trials for patients with mild to moderate COVID-19 symptoms, according to biotechnology company CytoDyn.
The placebo-controlled trial of 75 patients at up to 10 Novant Health centers will evaluate the safety of using Leronlimab, an experimental drug also used to treat HIV, in patients with mild to moderate documented COVID-19 illness, according to CytoDyn. COVID-19 is the disease caused by the novel coronavirus.
Novant Health spokeswoman Megan Rivers said the trials will be held at Novant Health Presbyterian, Forsyth and Rowan medical centers. Novant is based in Winston-Salem and is one of the two major hospital systems in Charlotte.
CytoDyn is a Vancouver, Wash.-based company that is developing Leronlimab. It said early indications show the drug can reduce the overactive immune response that can be triggered by the coronavirus infection. The trials will run for about six weeks.
“Our research team’s partnership with CytoDyn has enabled us to enroll Novant Health patients in this trial just four days after our organizations first made contact,” said Mark King, Novant Health vice president, in a statement.
It typically takes a research site three to six months to get a clinical trial up and running.
“COVID-19 is the most significant health threat of our generation,” said Dr. Eric Eskioglu, executive vice president and chief medical officer for Novant Health. “We want to thank CytoDyn for partnering with us in this very important Leronlimab clinical drug trial.”
Novant Health network cares for about 5 million patients annually at nearly 700 locations, including 15 hospitals and hundreds of outpatient facilities and physician clinics in North and South Carolina, Virginia and Georgia.
“This pandemic is creating an opportunity for all healthcare professionals to collaborate in order to bring a potential therapeutic benefit to so many affected people,” said Nader Pourhassan, president and CEO of CytoDyn.
COVID-19 is highly infectious and transmitted from person to person by respiratory droplets. Symptoms include fever, cough and shortness of breath appearing two to 14 days after exposure.
COVID-19 has led to almost 13,000 deaths in U.S. as of Wednesday afternoon, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. At this time, there are minimal treatment options for COVID-19.
This story was originally published April 8, 2020 at 4:11 PM.