[ad_1]
Researchers from the Texas A&M University of the USA. USA They are asking hundreds of front-line medical workers to participate in a late phase 4 clinical trial of a widely used tuberculosis vaccine that could help boost the immune system and mitigate the devastating effects of COVID-19)
Texas A&M is the first US institution in the clinical trial to have federal authorization to conduct human tests. The researchers hope to demonstrate that Bacillus Calmette-Guerin or BCG mitigate the effects of the new coronavirus, allowing fewer people to be hospitalized or die from COVID-19.
A new clinical trial conducted by the University of Texas is in its Stage 4, Phase 4 clinical trial of a widely used tuberculosis vaccine that could help boost the immune system and mitigate the devastating effects of COVID-19.
The researchers are looking to reuse the vaccine, which is also used to treat bladder cancer. BCG could be widely available for use against COVID-19 in just six months because it has already been shown to be safe for other uses, the university said.
“This could make a big difference in the next two to three years as the development of a specific vaccine for COVID-19 unfolds,” said Dr. Jeffrey D Cirillo, senior professor of pathogenesis and microbial immunology at the Center for Science in Texas A&M Health. .
BCG is not intended to cure the coronavirus but to close the gap until a vaccine is developed, allowing us to gain time until something can develop, Dr. Cirillo said.
Healthcare workers will be the first people eligible for the clinical trial, which will begin this week. Efforts are underway to recruit 1,800 volunteers to participate in the Texas A&M national test of the BCG application for the coronavirus.
“It is not going to prevent people from becoming infected. This vaccine has a very broad capacity to strengthen their immune response. We call it trained immunity,” said Dr. Cirillo.
Because the human body fights a COVID-19 infection similarly to how it would attack bladder cancer, the researchers hope their work can lead to an effective and rapidly developed treatment for COVID-19.
Furthermore, evidence shows that coronavirus can cause damage to a patient’s central nervous system and may even cause long-term effects that could lead to dementia, Alzheimer’s disease, or Parkinson’s disease. Dr. Cirillo said the potential for lasting effects of COVID-19 is another reason to get the vaccine to the public as quickly as possible.
Texas A&M University Chancellor John Sharp has offered $ 2.5 million to ensure the investigation can proceed as quickly as possible.
The Texas A&M Health Science Center leads a group of scientists and doctors with the Harvard School of Public Health, the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, the Cedars Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, and Baylor College of Medicine In Houston.
Dr. Cirillo said that reusing the existing bladder cancer vaccine called TICE (R) BCG could lead to COVID-19 treatment for the American public as quickly as possible.
Because the drug is already FDA-approved, researchers can skip the first three phases of clinical trials that are generally required before testing on people, as this vaccine has already passed those phases.
As the coronavirus has spread worldwide, researchers have noted that morbidity and mortality rates were lower in some developing countries, including India, where the BCG vaccine is widely used.
Update date: May 04, 2020 07:22:41 IST
Tags:
Boost the immune system,
Coronavirus,
Coronavirus cases,
Coronavirus emergency shutdown,
Coronavirus outbreak,
Cure,
Death cases,
Relieving blocking restrictions,
Increase in coronavirus cases,
Pandemic,
Treatment,
Tuberculosis vaccine,
Vaccine,
who
[ad_2]
