Here comes a ‘flurry’ of Covid-19 treatment studies

While much of society won’t be able to return to normalcy until there’s a widely available vaccine for the novel coronavirus, there’s a desperate need for Covid-19 therapeutics that might shorten hospital stays and prevent deaths. That’s why the National Institutes of Health is gearing up for a “flurry” of clinical trials testing out potential treatments, Director Francis Collins said.

As STAT’s Matthew Herper reports, the list includes antibodies designed to block the virus, drugs that could halt Covid-19’s deadly immunological effects, and blood thinners that might prove useful in preventing the clotting that often accompanies the disease.

These will be “really well-powered, rigorously designed clinical trials,” Collins said, likening the urgency to his experience running the Human Genome Project two decades ago.

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