Hundreds of clinical trials underway for COVID-19 treatments

WASHINGTON — Researchers around the world are working on ways to help treat people infected with COVID-19 and ease symptoms.

COVID-19 treatment guidelines released by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAD) this week said there is “insufficient data” to show any one drug is safe and effective but there are hundreds of clinical trials underway around the world with the goal of finding what works.

"It’s really an all hands on deck kind of time where scientists around the country and around the world are really just focused on what we can do to speed research, development, timeline and even manufacturing,” said Dr. Michael Ybarra, Vice President of Medical Affairs and Strategic Affairs at Pharmaceutical Research Manufacturers of America (PhRMA).

Researchers are looking at anti-virals which target the virus directly.

They’re also exploring immune based therapies which affect the immune response to the virus or target it.

"There are some medicines that are being looked at in order to speed up the recovery,” Ybarra said.

The NIAD guidelines said when possible, drug therapy should be given as part of a clinical trial so that data can be collected to determine whether treatments work.

"We're hoping some of the clinical trials could be resulted in the coming weeks and months,” Ybarra said.

The NIAD guidelines will continue to be updated as new testing and data becomes available.

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