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HonorHealth Research Institute and HonorHealth today announced the successful enrollment of a new combination of atovaquone and azithromycin in patients with severe COVID-19 infection. The clinical trial, conducted in collaboration with Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen), an affiliate of City of Hope, is funded as an investigator-initiated clinical trial by HonorHealth Research Institute. This is one of 10 clinical trials HonorHealth Research Institute is working on related to COVID-19 to understand the biology, spread, and treatment of COVID-19.
“We are excited to launch this trial in patients with COVID-19 infection. The combination of atovaquone and azithromycin has been studied previously in other infectious conditions and we hope that, if shown to be active, it could represent a well-tolerated option for patients infected with COVID-19,” said Michael S. Gordon, MD, medical director of HonorHealth Research Institute and co-principal investigator of the trial.
“This is the first trial in the United States, and the first trial made available to patients in Arizona, involving this specific combination of therapies,” said Kiran Avancha, Ph.D., R.Ph., chief operating officer of Honor Health Research Institute. “We are proud to support this ‘homegrown’ innovation here at the Institute, where we have been working with other front-line providers, scientists and experts from around the world to conduct multiple COVID-19 trials in record time to help our patients. and suppliers in the midst of this pandemic.”
The combination of atovaquone and azithromycin has the advantage of a lower risk of cardiac side effects compared to other potential treatments for COVID-19. Laboratory models suggest that atovaquone may be an active drug in the treatment of COVID-19 and its combination with azithromycin, studied in the rare infectious disease babesiosis, makes this an intriguing combination to study in COVID-19.
HonorHealth will enroll approximately 25 patients in the study, which enrolled its first patient on April 29. Eligibility criteria can be found on the ClinicalTrials.gov website.
The study will analyze interval nasopharyngeal swabs during treatment to quantify COVID-19 viral load, as well as assess additional clinical and laboratory determinants to determine response to therapy. Additional laboratory studies conducted by the Pathogens and Microbiomes Division of TGen, its infectious disease arm, will assess antibody production as well as genomic sequencing of the virus’s RNA to gain a better understanding of the COVID-19 virus.
“HonorHealth and TGen are excited to work together on this project and are hopeful that the translational research that is part of this and other studies that TGen is conducting will open up new avenues for the diagnosis and treatment of COVID-19 in the future.” Sunil Sharma said. , MD, FACP, MBA one of the principal investigators of the clinical trial with dual appointments at HonorHealth Research Institute and TGen. “We are hopeful that our analysis of antibody production will give us important insights into crucial targets for treatment in the future.”
HonorHealth continues to evaluate options to improve the management of patients infected with COVID-19. The HonorHealth Research Institute is focused on expanding its array of options to other programs in the Valley in an effort to build a coalition against this serious health risk.
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Follow the latest news on the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak Provided by The Translational Genomics Research Institute Date: A clinical trial of COVID-19 combination therapy with atovaquone and azithromycin (May 6, 2020) Retrieved August 31, 2022 from https://medicalxpress.com/news/2020-05-clinical-trial-covid -combination-therapy.html This document is subject to copyright. Other than any fair dealing for private study or research purposes, no part may be reproduced without written permission. The content is provided for informational purposes only.