A clinical trial consisting in administering to ten patients of Covid-19 a solution from the blood of a sea worm with oxygenating properties will be able to start after the agreement obtained from the Personal Protection Committee (CPP), announced this Saturday the carriers of the project.
After the agreement of the ANSM (National Agency for Medicines and Health Products) a week ago, the Breton company Hemarina, at the origin of the product, indicated that it had obtained the essential green light from the CPP to start his research in the night from Friday to Saturday.
Capable of delivering 40 times more oxygen
The solution, intended for patients affected by Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS), is produced from hemoglobin in the arena. Measuring between 10 and 15 cm, this worm is best known for its small twists visible on the beaches.
Its hemoglobin - a molecule present in red blood cells and which has the role of transporting oxygen in the body - is capable of delivering 40 times more oxygen than human hemoglobin. Unlike the latter, enclosed in red blood cells, that of the arenicola is extracellular.
This "molecular respirator", whose project has the code name of Monaco - acronym of "Nation oxygen covid" -, is a "perspective of hope to relieve resuscitation", commented Franck Zal, head of the company Hemarina.
"In compliance with scientific rules"
The test will concern ten patients and must take place in one of the two hospitals of the Assistance Publique-Hôpitaux de Paris (AP-HP), La Pitié-Salpêtrière or Georges Pompidou, which will have these products. "First, we will have a safety and effectiveness test to be able to see a sign of oxygenation for people who are going to fall into the sheave," said Franck Zal. It is a question of "avoiding, trying to avoid, that patients arrive too quickly in intensive care".
“Our results will be published in accordance with scientific rules and the people receiving the molecule. In this time of COVID-19 crisis, open source is the rule ”, reacted Laurent Lantieri, one of the scientific managers of the Monaco project, on Twitter.
The CPP gave its agreement yesterday evening the test can start thanks to #APHP and @Hemarina Our results will be published in accordance with scientific rules and people receiving the molecule. In this time of crisis #COVID ー 19 # opensource is the rule
- Laurent Lantieri (@LaurentLantieri) April 4, 2020Based in Morlaix, Hemarina has its own sea worm farm in Vendée, and had 5,000 doses immediately available at the end of March with the capacity to produce "fairly quickly" 15,000 others.
Newsletter - The essentials of the news
Every morning, the news seen by Le ParisienI'm registering
Your email address is collected by Le Parisien to allow you to receive our news and commercial offers. Find out more
There is currently no treatment for Covid-19. Several studies have been launched on hydroxychloroquine, the use of which continues to be debated.