The Carlos III Health Institute, dependent on the Ministry of Science Innovation, has just announced that it will finance six new projects that will evaluate antiviral treatments, diagnostic tests with nanotechnology, repositioning of drugs used in other indications and pharmacological prevention in people without infection.
These studies, in which centers from various autonomous communities have participated, are added to two others that have also been funded, with the idea of being applied in the short term in patients.
The first trials that were funded are under development and are analyzing, one the combined use of antivirals with hyperimmunity blockers in early stages of the disease and the other the use of plasma with antibodies from patients already cured.
What are the new tests?
The first of six new trials will analyze and compare three types of antiviral-based treatments : one with hydroxychloroquine, one with lopinavir / ritonavir, and one that combines hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin. The study is led by the Health Research Institute of the Hospital La Paz in Madrid (IdiPaz) and more than 30 hospitals from various autonomous communities will participate in it.
The second trial also focuses on antiviral treatment and is part of the World Health Organization (WHO) international Solidarity study. It will study the effectiveness of the drugs remdesevir, ritonavir / lopinavir, hydroxychloroquine, and interferon beta. This study will be carried out by the Health Research Institute of the Hospital Clínico de Madrid. Its objective is to find the best treatment for the disease as soon as possible and to unify the different therapeutic protocols that are being carried out in hospitals.
Led by the University Hospital of Elche and with the participation of hospitals in the provinces of Alicante, Murcia and Madrid, the third trial focuses on the prevention of COVID-19 through a drug (a pill), called mefloquine that is take once a week. Therefore, the healthy population would take it so as not to become infected.
The fourth trial will analyze a drug that is used in other pathologies, called defibrotide, and that could serve to reduce respiratory distress, the main lung complication of COVID-19 and responsible for many patients ending up in intensive care. This project is led by the Murcian Institute of Biomedical Research (IMIB) and hopes to have the participation of centers in Catalonia, Castilla León, Madrid and, internationally, with hospitals in the United States, Israel and Italy that have already shown their interest To participate.
The Health Research Institute of the Hospital Clínico de Valencia (INCLIVA) will lead the fifth project that focuses on using an alternative to propofol when it is necessary to anesthetize for intubation . The proposed alternative is sevoflurane, which, with the same efficacy as propofol, could reduce the necessary intubation time thanks to its anti-inflammatory effects. Centers in Madrid, the Basque Country and Valencia also participate in this trial.
Finally, the sixth trial aims to confirm the effectiveness of a novel rapid diagnostic test that would reduce the waiting time required by PCR tests and that, thanks to a nanotechnology that allows staining in patient samples, would facilitate and it would speed up the reading of the test results. The project is led by physicists from the Fundación Instituto Madrileño de Estudios Avanzados en Nanosciencia (IMDEA-Nanoscience).
In the eight studies funded so far, the ISCIII has invested 2.6 million of the 24 million that the COVID-19 Fund has for research. In all this time, the Institute has received more than a thousand proposals from all the autonomous communities.
New research projects focused on learning more about the biology of the virus and the generation of patient records will be approved soon.
