Researchers from the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) are testing a combo of two drugs with hopes of becoming the “golden ticket” against coronavirus, according to a recent report.
Last week, one first patient at UCSF was treated with the concoction of antiviral drug remdesivir and interferon beta, a medication used to treat multiple sclerosis, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.
The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), sponsors the randomized, controlled clinical trial. The study will enroll more than 1,000 hospital adults with COVID-19 on as many as 100 sites in the U.S. and abroad, with UCSF one of those sites.
According to NIH, all patients will receive brakesivir and those in the combination therapy group will receive interferon beta injection every other day for four total doses. Patients receiving brakesivir alone will receive a corresponding placebo injection.
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Researchers from the University of California San Francisco (pictured) are testing a two-drug combo, hoping it could be the “golden ticket” against coronavirus. (Photo via Google Earth)
“We are looking for the golden ticket,” Peter Chin-Hong, a professor of medicine and infectious diseases at UCSF, who is on the student team, told the outlet. “The gold medal will be a combination of drugs that will bring you to the sweet spot.”
Investigators hope the combination of drugs will attack the virus and lower inflammation, the outlet wrote. NIH said researchers will evaluate recovery time, with secondary goals to study patient outcomes and mortality.
Gilead Sciences’ brake divider has been shown to shorten recovery times among COVID-19 patients, and a recent UK study found that hospital COVID-19 patients who received an inhaled form of interferon beta did better with the virus. These patients had a 79% lower risk of developing more debilitating symptoms.
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When researchers found that remdesivir improved recovery time in a previous NIH trial, they said that future strategies should evaluate antiviral agents in combination with other therapeutic approaches to further improve patients’ outcomes.
If the drugs are a successful duo, researchers hope to use the concoction as an outpatient treatment to prevent hospitalizations, according to the outlet. NIH said preliminary results are expected in the fall.
“It would mean that I have something I can give patients that would reduce hospitalizations, reduce deaths and reduce the need for a breathing tube,” Chin-Hong told the outlet. “All those things would make me feel excited.”
Fox News’ Amy McGorry contributed to this report.
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