Virginia Commonwealth University is testing a new drug that could rescue the sickest COVID-19 patients. The medication could be available soon if study results show it’s helpful.
When our lungs are infected with a virus, small proteins called cytokines signal the immune system to attack, but Dr. Antonio Abbate -- Medical Director of the Clinical Research Unit at Virginia Commonwealth University -- says some people have an extreme reaction, producing a storm of cytokines that causes excessive inflammation.
“Patients that have elevated markers of inflammation tend to have a progressive disease requiring more and more oxygen and evolution towards requirement of a ventilator and some patients, unfortunately, don’t make it,” he explains.
A drug called canakinumab reduces inflammation of joints, and Abbate hopes it will do the same in our lungs and heart. It’s already approved to treat arthritis.
“So if these results were to be favorable," Abbate says, "this drug could be easily available commercially all over the world.”
VCU joins an international group – hoping to enroll a total of 450 patients.
