The Tribune

By EARYEL BOWLEG

Tribune Staff Reporter

ebowleg@tribunemedia.net

THE early reports of a therapy for COVID-19 patients in a clinical trial is “very promising” as a possible therapeutic option for the virus, according Director of the National HIV/AIDS & Infectious Diseases Programme at the Ministry of Health Dr Nikkiah Forbes.

Reuters recently reported two companies revealed RLF-100 (or aviptadil) helped in rapid recovery of respiratory failure in critically ill patients with COVID-19 after three days of treatment with the therapy.

Dr Forbes explained more about some of RLF-100’s touted benefits.

“So the company that is the producer of the drug came out early and announced that they were seeing some benefits that it could help in respiratory failure reduction in patients who are clinically ill with COVID-19 and that it blocked replication of SARS-CoV-2 in human lungs and some white cells called monocytes,” she said, “and that it could improve blood oxygen. That’s very promising as a possible therapeutic option for COVID-19.”

Although promising, Dr Forbes said the drug is still in an ongoing clinical trial, which she thinks is in the early phase. She said more data is needed.

She added: “So there is more work being done and still in the research phase. So what we do know is that drugs that are in the research phase they’re not available for market.

“They’re not something you can go to a pharmacy. . .that most people can get in hospital. They’re only available in clinical trial settings, so because of these findings and how promising it is as you know we’re really looking for something that will be helpful to improve people who are very very critically sick with COVID-19 and there are very few options to date.”

According to Reuters, “While a Phase 2/3 clinical trial with 70 patients is ongoing, RLF-100 is being administered on an emergency basis to some patients who are too ill to be admitted to the trial.”

Hydroxychloroquine is another drug that has been discussed as a possible COVID-19 therapy, but it is controversial. US President Donald Trump is one vocal supporter of the anti-malaria drug as a treatment for the virus. However the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has recently cautioned against use of the drug for COVID-19 outside of the hospital setting or a clinical trial due to risk of heart rhythm problems.

Yesterday Dr Forbes said the drug is being “politicized” and “politics and pandemics is always a very dangerous mix”.

“There’ve been a number of trials regarding hydroxychloroquine and the overwhelming position of the scientific community at this time is that there is not enough good quality evidence of a gold standard, that’s a randomized clinical controlled trial,...that shows that this drug gives a benefit of the treatment of COVID-19,” she said.