BSW's
Research Institute is running dozens of studies to treat the physical effects
of the virus. Up next – the emotional and mental impact.
BY WILL MADDOX PUBLISHED
IN HEALTHCARE
BUSINESS AUGUST 24, 2020 12:57 PM
The
Baylor Scott & White Research Institute enrolled the world’s first patient
in a new COVID-19 treatment in early August, becoming one of several facilities
running National Institutes of Health clinical trials to treat the coronavirus.
The
research is the first in
the Accelerating COVID-19 Therapeutic Interventions and Vaccines (ACTIV)
program, created in a partnership between the National Institute of Allergy and
Infectious Diseases (NIAID) and the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute
(NHLBI), two organizations within NIH. The trial includes 400 sites around the
world, and targets those hospitalized with COVID-19. It is one of a couple
dozen COVID-19 related studies being conducted by Baylor’s research arm, which
was chosen as one of the first eight hospitals to conduct this trial.
“The
science behind COVID-19 has evolved at warp speed and we have been racing to
find lifesaving therapies for our patients since day one. We must remember that
well-conducted clinical trials performed with the highest scientific rigor are
the key to finding an answer to treat the virus and help our patients,” said
Dr. Uriel Sebastian Sandkovsky, Baylor Scott & White’s principal
investigator and an infectious disease physician on staff at Baylor University
Medical Center via release.
The
first phase of the trial is for patients who have been hospitalized with COVID-19
but not put on a ventilator, unique in that it isn’t focused on the sickest of
patients. The patients will be compared to those receiving current standard of
care, which is the anti-viral drug Remdesivir. The trial’s treatment involves a
one-time hourlong infusion of a medicine that is meant to keep the virus from
spreading to other cells; Remdesivir focuses on healing the cells where the
virus is already present.
“The
ACTIV-3 trial is allowing the medical and scientific community to come together
to collaborate across traditional boundaries and let the best parts of humanity
shine,” said Dr. Robert Gottlieb, a transplant cardiologist on staff at Baylor
University Medical Center and Baylor Scott & White Heart and Vascular
Hospital in Dallas.
Because
there are such a large number of trials underway for COVID-19 with Baylor Scott
& White, patients have a number of options if their condition worsens.
Another of the research institute’s trials involves treating those who are on
ventilators due to coronavirus with stem cells. “The trials are synergistic,”
says Dr. Michael Mack, a cardiothoracic surgeon with Baylor Scott and White who
has been behind a number of studies and trials. “We can place a patient in
ACTIV-3, and if the other antibody isn’t working, they can enroll in the next
trial. It’s not like if the first thing doesn’t work you are out
of options. There are multiple options for every stage.”
“We
offer all patients a research opportunity, and we learn more and more every
day,” says Jaime Walkowiak, chief research executive at Baylor
Scott and White Health. “It is helpful for doctors to have
options, and helpful to have patients to be able to participate in research.”
The
pandemic has fast-tracked many trials, and research that normally occurred over
the course of years is taking place in a matter of weeks, For the institutional
review board that evaluates each trial, that has meant many long nights and
working weekends to make sure the trials can launch quickly and safely. Even
with 600 employees doing thousands of research protocols on 60 medical
specialties, the staff has been pushed to the limit trying to keep up with how
quickly COVID-19 studies have moved.
Walkowiak
says in her decades of working in research, she has never seen anything like
the way the research world has zoomed in to address COVID-19, especially with
the added challenges of preventing the spread of the disease while getting
consent from patients, developing protocols, and seeking approval. It has
required mental agility and thinking well outside of the box.
While
there are around two dozen trials focusing on treating COVID-19’s impact on the
body, Walkowiak sees the next phase in COVID-19 research focusing on the mental
health for patients and healthcare workers, analyzing the “emotional impact of
the healthcare worker who will treat those patients and how they have coped
with going through this.”
No comments:
Post a Comment