COVID-19 Clinical Trials and Expanded Access

The investigators will follow a single prospective cohort of 50 Health Care Workers in the Hospital Italiano de Buenos Aires (Argentina) from May 15th to August 31st 2020 using antibody testing for SARS-CoV-2 IgM and IgG at baseline and every 2 weeks in order to assess the incidence of COVID-19, the prevalence of anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibodies (IgM and IgG) and incidence of reinfection or reactivations of previous COVID-19 using viral gene sequencing in this cohort.

The objective of the study is to assess the efficacy and safety of Baricitinib in the treatment of patients with COVID-19 pneumonia. This will be a proof-of-concept trial with an exploratory single-arm proof of concept Phase IIa study to assess the efficacy and safety profile of Baricitinib in a limited number of patients with severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS)-CoV-2 pneumonia. If the initial proof of concept phase will lead to favourable results, an open-label, Phase II, randomized controlled trial will be then designed and performed to confirm the results obtained in the proof of concept phase. The proof-of-concept phase guarantees that no safety issues arise on a limited number of patients in the use of a drug new to the current condition being treated.

Professionals and residents of nursing homes are one of the most vulnerable groups in this public health crisis of COVID-19, since they have the highest rate of positives for COVID-19, despite the restriction measures carried out, such as prohibition of family visits to these centers, the infection occurs by cross transmission with the care staff of the centers, or with other residents. At the moment, there are no clinical trials to test the hypothesis that hydroxychloroquine is effective in coronavirus treatment. Although what has been observed is a better prognosis in infected patients, since this drug inhibits the replication of the virus and its expansion to other tissues. This study is a clinical trial to test the effectiveness of hydroxychloroquine as a preventive drug for SARS-CoV-2 infection. This drug will be applied to 1050 people residing in nursing home care and 880 professionals who work in close contact with these people and who have not yet contracted the infection. This project will be carried out in the territories of Madrid, Navarra, Aragon and Andalusia (Spain). Hydroxychloroquine is a widely known drug that is used in two scenarios, against autoimmune diseases, such as lupus or rheumatoid arthritis, and as an antimalarial drug. It is also intended to demonstrate that the presumed reduction in viral load that would be obtained with hydroxychloroquine prophylaxis, would have no effect in development of immunity against the virus. This fact can create a new paradigm for the de-escalation of the confinement to which the population has been subjected to stop the virus spread, allowing the development of general immunity in controlled populations until reaching total immunity. In addition to testing the effect of this drug, a non-pharmacological intervention based on a safety record will be tested in the management of infection on nursing home, to assess its effectiveness in detecting risk areas or bad practices carried out in this vulnerable environment. The study is led by researchers of the Institute of Biomedicine of Malaga (Spain), and has obtained a financing of 1,024,199 euros from Carlos III Health Institute (Spain). The period of execution of the clinical trial is one year, and with this intervention, the intention is to reduce cross-infection in residents by a minimum threshold of 15%, as well as to decrease infection in the professionals.

This is a multi-site, prospective, non-randomised trial assessing the implementation of a smartphone application-based model of care for patients with COVID-19 infection managed in community isolation. We will recruit 2000 COVID +ve patients aged 18 years and over who are managed at home. The objective will be to describe the rates of avoidable presentations to ED and 30 day all case mortality per diagnosed COVID-19 case and to compare these to a propensity matched and synthetic control group.

Currently, due to the effects of COVID-19 pandemic, there is an imperative need to change the healthcare model. In this regard, telemedicine has proved very useful in health crises, in which there is a possibility of infection between people, offering remote access to medical care. Telemedicine has been used in many chronic diseases such as asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, diabetes mellitus, and appears to be well accepted by patients. However, few studies have been conducted in surgical services and in other diseases. Therefore, the aim of this study is to assess the level of acceptance of the patients, in this pandemic situation, to a telemedicine follow-up in different departments. This is an observational, cross-sectional, multicenter and international study with prospective and retrospective data collection. To evaluate patients' acceptance, we used the validated questionnaire Telehealth usability questionnaire (TUQ). In addition, all patients will provide an overall satisfaction score for telemedicine on a scale from 1 to 5 (1=lowest; 5=highest satisfaction).

Novel Coronavirus 2019 Disease (COVID-19) mortality is highly associated with viral pneumonia and its complications. Accurate and prompt diagnosis shown to be effective to improve outcome by providing early treatment strategies. While chest X-ray (CXR) and computerized tomography (CT) are defined as gold standard, given the advantage of being an ionized radiation free, practical technique point of care ultrasound (POCUS) is also reported as a diagnostic tool for COVID-19. There are limited studies regarding the importance of POCUS in diagnosis and review of COVID-19. Therefore the aim of this study is to evaluate the utility of bedside lung ultrasound on diagnosis of COVID-19 for patients admitted to emergency department .

The pandemic of a newly upcoming viral disease which is associated with COVID-19 puts the whole world's health system under pressure. Patients suffering from this disease mainly develop respiratory symptoms, which can lead to severe acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) necessitating ICU, admission in 10-20% of the cases admitted to hospital. In addition to these symptoms, patients show lymphopenia, cardiac symptoms and altered coagulation profiles. Although those patients are treated in the ICU the mortality is up to 20% due to multiorgan failure. The aim of this study is to show non-inferiority of flow-controlled ventilation compared to standard (lung protective ventilation). Methods: After admission to the ICU, the patients will receive information about the study and informed consent will be taken. Upon reaching the criteria for moderate to severe ARDS (P/F ratio below 200 mmHg and PEEP above 5 cmH2O) the patients will be randomized. In the treatment group (group A) the ultra-thin ventilation tube will be placed through the existing tube. Then flow-controlled ventilation will be applied for 48 hours. In the other group (group B) ventilation will be performed according to the lung protective strategy. All other treatment will be unchanged. Data-collection will be started 1 hour after initiation of the study. Primary end point is PaO2.

Since the last 3 months the world copes with the novel coronavirus disease : Covid-19 emerged in China in the end of 2019. WHO declared the pandemic situation as a Public Health Emergency around the world on January 2020. Firsts studies emphasized on higher risk to older adults to experience serious health consequences : hospitalizations and mortality, due to multimorbidity and multimedication. Nursing home resident are particulary frailer and vulnerable.

This center intends to conduct a single-center, randomized, placebo-controlled study to evaluate the effectiveness and safety of Nintedanib ethanesulfonate soft capsule in the treatment of pulmonary fibrosis in patients with moderate to severe COVID-19.

Since December 2019, when the novel coronavirus disease (Covid-19) spread throughout the world, data have been needed on the effects of the pandemic on various aspects of healthcare systems. Recommendations for social distancing and quarantine decrees made by local governments, alongside the general public fear from the spread of the virus, are presumed to have markedly affected the trends in hospitals visits. Understanding the exact nature of the effect is critical for better anticipating and preparing health systems in the event of future outbreaks and in the post outbreak period. Therefore we intend to To identify retrospectively all patients who presented to the emergency department at our medical institute between January 1 - March 31 in the following years: 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020. We will examine the impact of COVID-19 on the rates of surgical emergency visits, ratio of surgical visits to non-surgical visits, the ratio of severe presentations to non-severe presentations, and the impact of age on ED attendance.