Vanesa Lopez
09/18/2020 - 13:11
Clarín.com
Society
In our country, different treatments for
Covid-19
patients are being investigated
, with the aim of mitigating the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.
The use of medications, nebulisations with ibuprofen, the transfusion of convalescent plasma and the application of equine serum are some of the therapeutic tools that are being tested.
Here's a summary of
how those studies are progressing
.
Changes in the Solidarity essay
The
Argentina
is part of the international trial
Solidarity
, launched by the World Health Organization (WHO) to find an effective treatment against Covid-19.
The country participates in the initiative with about 300 patients and ten hospitals in the Metropolitan Area of Buenos Aires, Santa Fe, Córdoba and Chaco.
“The news is encouraging because today it is the study with the
largest number of patients enrolled
in the world: it has exceeded 11 thousand.
And the first publication is almost ready ”,
the infectologist
Gustavo Lopardo
, in charge of the trial at the national level
, told
Clarín
.
Hydroxychloroquine did not provide any benefit.
Photo DPA.
"The study underwent some small modifications in its design, replacing the two drugs that came out —hydroxychloroquine and kaletra— and entering a new drug called
acalabrutinib
, whose action is to fight against the stage of the disease that is characterized by the cytokine storm" , said the infectologist.
For Lopardo, Solidaridad was a key study in showing that hydroxychloroquine and lopinavir-ritonavir (kaletra) "were subtle treatments, that is, they
did not provide any benefit
."
“The impact of
remdesivir
is also being analyzed
.
The Solidaridad study has enrolled more patients on remdesivir than all the other smaller studies that were done.
So it can probably give us some results as well, ”says Lopardo.
Remdesivir showed positive effects in the treatment of coronavirus.
Photo EFE.
For his part,
Rubén Sajem
, director of the Center for Argentine Pharmaceutical Professionals (Ceprofar), commented that of the antivirals studied in Solidaridad, "remdesivir is the only one that went through all the necessary stages to
be considered an effective treatment
."
One problem with this drug is that in the United States it costs
$ 2,300 per patient
.
“There is an issue in Argentina for the price and the possibility that compulsory licenses will eventually be granted for national production at cheaper prices.
There are already presentations in that sense ”, says Sajem.
Ibuprofenate, a Cordoba invention
Argentine researchers created a
therapy with ibuprofen
that proposes, through
nebulization
, to prevent people infected with covid-19 from needing a respirator.
It is applied to the patient with a kind of
helmet-hood
, twice a day, with a measure of 50 mg.
“In this nebulizing therapy we have already shown that
ibuprofen is totally safe
.
It is also being used against the covid in Great Britain, but in ingestible tablets ”, explained to Clarín Néstor García, the Conicet researcher who developed the project at the Center of Excellence in Products and Processes of Córdoba (Ceprocor).
However, the National Administration of Drugs, Food and Medical Technology (Anmat) has already issued two statements saying that luarprofen - the brand name for nebulizable ibuprofen -
is not approved as a drug
.
Equipment for the application of inhaled ibuprofen.
Photo Télam.
"[La Anmat] clarifies it to
avoid illegal sale
and because no formal presentation has been made. In Córdoba it is authorized as a medicine, but only for compassionate use. All the other studies that are done are clinical trials, still in very early stages previous
studies
and with very few patients.
It is not a validated method
", emphasizes Sajem.
In the province of Salta, this treatment was approved as
compassionate use therapy
.
More than 1,600 plasma donors
Our country is conducting several clinical trials on the use of plasma (the liquid part of the blood) donated by people who already had covid-19 and which is then administered to those who are suffering from the disease.
In the province of Buenos Aires, there were already 1,209 donors and 3,000 people transfused.
In addition, they published the
first research on the subject
, carried out in 272 moderate and severe patients admitted to hospitals in that district.
Plasma donation at the Tres de Febrero Regional Hemotherapy Center.
Photo Guillermo Rodríguez Adami.
According to their results, a
favorable evolution
was recorded
after the application of plasma in 81.4% of the patients admitted to the floor, in 70.9% of those who were in intensive care units (ICU) and in 39 , 6% of those admitted to ICU with mechanical ventilation.
In the City, there are ten public hospitals with plasma research protocols.
In total,
1,590 volunteers
conducted the interview to donate plasma, of which 438 met the requirements and have already donated;
559 patients received plasma.
But on these practices they have not yet published results.
Equine serum
Treatment with
hyperimmune equine serum
is under investigation.
The starting point of the procedure is to inoculate a horse with a recombinant protein isolated from the virus, an operation that experts assure is safe for the animal.
So, the horses generate a lot of neutralizing antibodies.
The plasma is
then
removed
in a process similar to that used when obtaining plasma from people, called apheresis.
From each blood drawn from a horse, 300 treatments can be obtained.
These antibodies are purified, processed, and then
administered to the patient
by intravenous infusion - as a serum is applied - for about 50 minutes.
They are two doses separated from each other by 48 hours.
In July, Anmat approved the research protocol for the phase 2/3 clinical study.
It
is
currently
being carried out in 19 hospitals
in the City, Province of Buenos Aires, Neuquén and Tucumán.
242 volunteers with covid-19 with moderate to severe symptoms participate.
Almost 60% of the clinical study has been completed.
According to Sajem, the production of equine serum is based on the same principles as plasma, but horses are very good producers of antibodies.
“If a positive result were obtained, it would obtain
a plasma of great potency
and greater production capacity than can be achieved with the plasma of convalescent patients.
But the final demonstration is missing ”, he concluded.
LGP / DD
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