UAB among U.S. sites hosting new clinical trial for COVID-19 treatment
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – The University of Alabama at Birmingham will take part in an NIH-sponsored global clinical trial to evaluate the safety and efficacy of novel therapeutic agents in hospitalized adult patients diagnosed with COVID-19. The drug remdesivir is the first agent to be evaluated.
The UAB site was activated March 25, 2020, by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, part of the National Institutes of Health, meaning it can begin enrollment as part of this phase three therapeutic clinical trial immediately.
UAB is one of several sites being activated for the trial. The study will be conducted in up to 75 sites globally. Paul Goepfert, M.D., professor of medicine in the UAB Division of Infectious Diseases, serves as the UAB principal investigator for this study.
“Remdesivir worked well in the test tube and animal models against a close relative of COVID-19,” Goepfert said. “We are very excited to have the opportunity to rapidly determine whether this drug will help treat hospitalized patients with COVID-19 here at UAB.”
COVID-19 can cause mild illness that can be overcome, but more severe cases can be life-threatening. More information about the 2019 novel coronavirus is available on the CDC website.
“COVID-19 is rapidly spreading throughout the world, and the U.S. now has the third-highest number of cases in the world, with more than 50,000 patients,” Goepfert said, “Although the first case of COVID-19 in Alabama was diagnosed just over a week ago, we now have more than 200 cases in our state.”
The clinicaltrials.gov identifier is NCT04280705.
For more updates on COVID-19, visit uab.edu/coronavirus.
About The IDCRC
The Infectious Diseases Clinical Research Consortium was formed in 2019 to support the planning and implementation of infectious diseases clinical research that efficiently addresses the scientific priorities of NIAID. It consists of nine VTEUs and the IDCRC Leadership Group. The IDCRC is made up of infectious diseases leaders and clinical researchers from Emory University, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Johns Hopkins University, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Baylor College of Medicine, University of Washington, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, FHI360, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute, University of Rochester, Saint Louis University, and the NIH NIAID Division of Microbiology and Infectious Diseases.
About UAB
Known for its innovative and interdisciplinary approach to education at both the graduate and undergraduate levels, the University of Alabama at Birmingham is the state of Alabama’s largest employer and an internationally renowned research university and academic medical center; its professional schools and specialty patient-care programs are consistently ranked among the nation’s top 50. Learn more at www.uab.edu and www.uabmedicine.org.
EDITOR’S NOTE: The University of Alabama at Birmingham is one of three doctoral research universities in the University of Alabama System. In your first reference to our institution, please use University of Alabama at Birmingham and UAB on subsequent references.
