COVID-19 Clinical Trials and Expanded Access

Rationale: SARS-CoV2 viral infection is spreading rapidly throughout the world and in India the epidemic poses a major threat to the public health system. Elderly individuals, especially those with diabetes, hypertension, other chronic diseases are at high risk of mortality. Strategies to protect these individuals are desperately needed to safeguard continuous patient care. Bacille Calmette-Guérin (BCG) is a vaccine against tuberculosis, with protective non-specific effects against other respiratory tract infections in in-vitro and in-vivo studies, and reported significant reductions in morbidity and mortality. Based on the capacity of BCG to reduce the incidence of respiratory tract infections in children and adults, to exert antiviral effects in experimental models; and to reduce viremia in an experimental human model of viral infection, the hypothesis is that BCG vaccination will partially protect against mortality in high-risk, elderly individuals. Primary Objective: To evaluate the effectiveness of BCG vaccination in preventing morbidity and mortality due to COVID-19 in elderly individuals aged between 60 to 80 years living in COVID-19 hotspots in India. Secondary objectives: 1. To evaluate the effectiveness of BCG vaccination in terms of 1. reducing the cumulative incidence of hospital admission and Intensive Care admission 2. reducing the incidence of other respiratory febrile illness 2. To determine the innate and adaptive immune responses, IgM, IgG and IgA antibody titers generated by BCG vaccination (both total and SARS-Cov2 specific) in a subset of individuals. 3. To measure biomarkers induced by BCG vaccination as correlates of risk/protection against SARS-Cov2 in a subset of individuals Method and Analysis: Study design: Intervention study Study population: Elderly 60 - 80 years of age residing in designated hotspots for SARS-Cov2 infection Study Intervention: One dose of 0.1ml BCG vaccine, given intradermally. Elderly individuals not vaccinated from the same hotspot area or from neighbouring hotspot wards areas will be considered as the controls. Study sites: Chennai, Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Bhopal, Jodhpur and New Delhi. Study Sample size: 1450 individuals between 60-80 years of age will receive BCG vaccination while 725 individuals will be controls without vaccination Study duration: 6 months/participant. Enrolment at each site will be over: 4 months. Each participant will be followed for 6 months post vaccination. Primary Outcome Measures: During the study period (6-months), Proportion of individuals receiving the BCG vaccination who are asymptomatic but become PCR-positive or seroconvert during the 6-month of study period. Proportion of patients with development of COVID-19 disease (either PCR-positive or seroconvert with symptoms) during the study period. Proportion of patients with Severe COVID-19 disease and death due to Covid-19 disease

Preliminary data support the effect of Nitric Oxide (NO) on improving the oxygenation in mechanically ventilated patients and spontaneously breathing patients with COVID-19. In vitro studies showed an antiviral effect of NO against SARS-coronavirus. The optimal therapeutic regimen of NO gas in spontaneously breathing hypoxemic patients with COVID-19 is not known. We hypothesize that high concentration inhaled NO with an adjunct of continuous low dose administration between the high concentration treatments can be safely administered in hypoxemic COVID-19 patients compared to the high dose treatment alone. Prolonged administration of NO gas may benefit the patients in terms of the severity of the clinical course and time to recovery. Together with a clinical effect on ventilation-perfusion matching, a prolonged regimen would allow also an increase in antiviral activity (dose and time-dependent).

The purpose of this study is to evaluate if a postural recruitment maneuver (PRM) improves the aeration and distribution of lung ventilation in patients with Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS) caused by COVID-19 infection; without the need to reach high airway pressures as in the standard lung recruitment maneuver and / or place the patient in prone position. This strategy could be particularly useful in the context of a major health emergency in centers with limited resources.

The outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) occurred initially in December 2019 in the city of Wuhan, Hubei province, China. Patients mainly presented with respiratory symptoms and this novel pathogen was identified.At present, the core management of COVID-19 includes infection prevention, case detection, monitoring, and supportive care. While specific new drugs and vaccines are being researched, certain drugs that are already present in medical arsenal are under trial too. One investigational treatment being explored for COVID-19 is the use of convalescent plasma (CP) collected from recovered COVID-19 patients. Convalescent Plasma is a source of passive immune therapy- the administration of specific antibodies against a given agent for preventing or treating an infectious disease due to that agent. The main anticipated mechanism of action of Convalescent Plasma therapy in COVID19 is viral neutralization. Other possible mechanisms include antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity and phagocytosis. There are numerous examples in which convalescent plasma (CP) has been used successfully as post exposure prophylaxis and/or treatment of infectious diseases, including other outbreaks of coronaviruses e.g. SARS-1, MERS-CoV and very recently in 2014, the Ebola virus outbreak. In SARS-CoV-2, Shen et al published a case series of 5 critically ill patients with COVID-19 and acute respiratory distress syndrome showing improvement in clinical status after transfusion of CP. Therefore, the objective of this study is to determine the safety and efficacy of transfusing convalescent plasma in patients admitted with COVID-19 at Aga Khan University Karachi, Pakistan. The investigators hypothesize that CP will decrease the length of hospital stay and overall mortality in patients with COVID-19. In this study, convalescent plasma will be collected from the donors who have been recovered from SARS-CoV-2 infection and transfused it to the patients admitted with active severe /critical COVID-19 at the Aga Khan University Hospital Karachi. STUDY DESIGN: Non-randomized open Label trial INCLUSION CRITERIA IN TREATMENT ARM: i. Inpatients at AKU with positive SARS-CoV-2 infection by rRT-PCR and who have provided written informed consent for inclusion in the trial; ii. Age ≥ 18 years; iii. Severe or immediately life-threatening COVID-19 defined by any of: - Respiratory rate ≥ 30/min; - Blood oxygen saturation ≤ 93% at room air; - Partial pressure of arterial Oxygen to Fraction of inspired Oxygen ratio < 300; - Lung infiltrates > 50% within 24 to 48 hours on radiology ( X-ray or CT scan); - Need for mechanical ventilation. - respiratory failure - septic shock - multiple organ dysfunction or failure EXCLUSION CRITERIA: i. Negative rRT-PCR from respiratory secretions or blood within 48 h prior to assessment of eligibility. ii. History of allergic reaction to blood or plasma products (as judged by the investigator). iii. Medical conditions in which receipt of 500 mL intravascular volume may be detrimental to the patient (e.g., actively decompensated congestive heart failure). iv. Enrolment in any other clinical trial for an investigational therapy. CONTROL GROUP: COVID-19 patients recruited during the period before CP becomes available or for whom no compatible CP is available will be given Standard of Care and will be followed for study outcomes. Data from these SC patients will be used as comparator in the analysis of the study.

The investigators propose to conduct a retrospective study to define and quantify the variable occupational and non-occupational risk among various HCWs who got COVID-19 . The investigators aim to determine the rates of acquisition of COVID-19, in the context of level of exposure , adequacy of PPE use and other infection control measuresrecommended for COVID-19 and also to define the risk of secondary disease transmission to other household members of HCWs.

This study is a multi-center, randomized, double-blind, parallel, placebo-controlled, phase Ⅱ clinical trial to evaluate efficacy and safety of Pyramax in mild to moderate COVID-19 patients.

Besides protective ventilation with low tidal volumes, prone positioning is a proven intervention to decrease mortality in mechanically ventilated patients with moderate-severe acute respiratory distress syndrome. However, the evidence of this strategy in awake non-intubated patients is scarce. The investigators will perform a randomized controlled trial to define if prone positioning can reduce the requirement of mechanical ventilation.

Several studies have suggested a potential clinical benefit of controlling hyper inflammation triggered by SARS-CoV-2/COVID-19. Blood purification, the removal of excessive proinflammatory mediators may control disease progression and support clinical recovery. For this purpose, COVID-19 patients might benefit from treatment with AN69ST hemofilter based extracorporeal blood purification.

This study evaluates the effectiveness of a Positive Psychology intervention, that is focused on increasing the positive emotions and strengths of human beings. It is compared to the effectiveness of an online treatment with the change of the same participants before and after receiving the treatment accompanied by a chat support service vs. the treatment solely. The changes are being assessed through worldwide validated measures such as psychometrics.

The investigators have developed supportive text-messages in English and Spanish to help people cope with the stress and anxiety of COVID-19 social distancing. The purpose of this study is to examine if automated text-messages will improve depression and anxiety symptoms and enhance positive mood. Additionally, the investigators will compare the effectiveness of sending messages on a random schedule (using a micro-randomized trial design) or sent by a reinforcement learning policy on overall change in depression and anxiety symptoms and daily mood during the 8-week study.