COVID-19 Clinical Trials and Expanded Access

This is an adaptive Phase I-II trial of a vaccine consisting of autologous dendritic cells previously loaded ex vivo with SARS-CoV-2 spike protein, with or without GM-CSF, to prevent COVID-19 in adults.

Sarilumab is an anti-interleukin-6 human monoclonal antibody, such as tocilizumab, which is administered subcutaneously every two weeks for the treatment of moderate to severe active rheumatoid arthritis in adult patients. Despite the effectiveness reported for tocilizumab in the recently published experiences, the need to rapidly find alternative therapies to manage the complications of Covid-19 infection remains extremely high. The lack of clinical experience on the usage of sarilumab in such patients prevents the possibility of adopting early access programs for using commercially available sarilumab (prefilled syringe) packs in patients with severe Covid-19 pneumonia. The present study is aimed to generate a rapid, still robustly documented, evidence on the potential clinical efficacy and tolerability of a further IL-6R antagonist in Covid-19 pneumonia.

Introduction There are currently no treatments with demonstrated efficacy for COVID-19 infection. Epidemiological evidence points to the existence of intrinsic protection factors which make young persons and women more resistant to the infection, whereas older patients with multiple illnesses, above all with heart disease, are at greatest risk. This trial proposes treatment initiated in the early stages of the disease, when clinical worsening is most likely, with intravenous Oxytocin (OT), an endogenous hormone currently safely used in clinical practice. The selection of this molecule is based on numerous experimental and clinical observations, which show its activity in modulating resistance to pathogens, in mitigating overall cardiovascular risk, and in acting on the production of Nitric Oxide (ON) in the lungs, which is emerging as a key therapeutic factor for the improvement of respiratory function in patients with SARS-COVID 19. Finally, OT is physiologically produced by the human body, especially in the female sex and in the age ranges that coincide with most resistant patients. In routine clinical practice, OT exhibits an excellent therapeutic index, in absence of significant adverse effects. Primary aim To assess the effects of Oxytocin in addition to standard therapy, with respect to Standard of Care (SoC), in reducing the number of patients who enter a critical stage Secondary aim To describe: - Mortality 28 days after randomization - Time to mechanical ventilation during the study - Duration of dependency on oxygen supply - Length of stay - Temporal trend of clinical improvement (7-category ordinal scale) - Safety analysis

It has been suggested that ibuprofen might be associated with more severe cases of coronavirus infections, based on the observation that severe COVID cases had been exposed to ibuprofen, resulting in a warning by the French authorities. This was attributed to: 1. a suggestion that ibuprofen might upregulate ACE-2 thereby increasing the entrance of COVID-19 into the cells, 2. an analogy with bacterial soft-tissue infections where more severe infections on NSAIDs are attributed to an immune-depressive action of NSAIDs, or to belated treatment because of initial symptom suppression, 3. fever is a natural response to viral infection, and reduces virus activity: antipyretic activity might reduce natural defenses against viruses. However fever reduction in critically ill patients had no effect on survival. However, these assertions are unclear: upregulation of ACEII would increase the risk of infection, not necessarily its severity, and would only apply to the use of NSAIDs before the infection, i.e. chronic exposure. It would be irrelevant to the infection once the patients are infected, i.e., to symptomatic treatment of COVID-19 infection. Anti-inflammatory effect masking the early symptoms of bacterial infections resulting in later antibiotic or other treatment is not applicable: there is no treatment of the virus that might be affected by masking symptoms. Antipyretic effect increasing the risk or the severity of infection would apply equally to all antipyretic agents including paracetamol, which share the same mechanism of action for fever reduction. EMA remains prudent about this assertion In addition, excess reliance on paracetamol while discouraging the use of ibuprofen might increase the risk of hepatic injury from paracetamol overdose. Paracetamol is the prime drug associated with liver injury and transplantation, in voluntary and inadvertent overdose or even at normal doses. This might be increased by COVID-related liver function alterations. It is therefore proposed to conduct a case-control study in a cohort of patients admitted to hospital in France with COVID-19 infection.

France and especially the region "Grand Est" have been damaged by the COVID-19 pandemic. This pandemic resulted in a reorganization of the hospitalization sectors. In order to better understand the disease, the investigators wish to carry out a descriptive analysis of hospitalized patient data. This study would notably allow us to identify some prognostic factors. The main objective of this study is to identify individual factors that are associated with a poor prognosis (with ICU admission or death).

This is an observational study. The aim is to describe the natural history and clinical evolution over time of hospitalized patients affected by Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome-Coronavirus-2 (SARS-COV-2) infection, including the genetic pathology of the disease and improve therapeutic procedures.

This is a small scale pilot study to evaluate if core warming improves respiratory physiology of mechanically ventilated patients with COVID-19, allowing earlier weaning from ventilation, and greater overall survival. This prospective, randomized study will include 20 patients diagnosed with COVID-19, and undergoing mechanical ventilation for the treatment of respiratory failure. Patients will be randomized in a 1:1 fashion with 10 patients (Group A) randomized to undergo core warming, and the other 10 patients (Group B) serving as the control group who will not have the ensoETM device used. Patients randomized to Group A will have core warming initiated in the ICU or other clinical environment in which they are being treated after enrollment and provision of informed consent from appropriate surrogate or legally authorized representative.

This is a monocentric retro-prospective observational study that will be conducted on all COVID19 positive patients hospitalized at the S. Gerardo Hospital in Monza.

Study design Phase 2, double blinded, single-center, 1:1 randomized clinical trial of Chloroquine vs Chloroquine/losartan for the treatment of SARS-CoV-2 pneumonia in non-critically ill subjects

Low doses of radiation in the form of chest X-rays have been used to treat people with pneumonia. This treatment was found to be effective by reducing inflammation and with minimal side effects. However, it was an expensive treatment and was eventually replaced with less costly treatments such as antibiotics. Radiation has also been shown in some animal experiments to reduce some types of inflammation. Some patients diagnosed with COVID-19 pneumonia will experience worsening disease, which can become very serious, requiring the use of a ventilator. This is caused by inflammation in the lung from the virus and the immune system. For this study, the x-ray given is called radiation therapy. Radiation therapy uses high-energy X-ray beams from a large machine to target the lungs and reduce inflammation. Usually, it is given at much higher doses to treat cancers. The purpose of this study is to find out if adding a single treatment of low-dose x-rays to the lungs might reduce the amount of inflammation in the lungs from a COVID-19 infection, which could help a patient to breathe without use of a ventilator.