COVID-19 Clinical Trials and Expanded Access

The objective of the research is to study the expression of the ACE 2 receptor and the TMPRSS2 serine protease in the tonsils and adenoids of children and adults.

The current COVID-19 epidemic threatens to overwhelm the capacity of many countries to meet their populations' health care needs. Although several vaccines specific for SARS-CoV-2 have been or are being developed, these require testing in animal and human safety studies and they are unlikely to be available during the expected peak periods of the growing epidemic. Two groups at especially high risk of infection and disease are front line health care workers working directly with COVID-19 patients and elderly residents of group homes or facilities that provide skilled nursing care to this frail population. Interim measures to protect these groups while we await a high efficacy vaccine are desperately needed. Based on the capacity of BCG to (1) reduce the incidence of respiratory tract infections in children and adults; (2) exert antiviral effects in experimental models; and (3) reduce viremia in an experimental human model of viral infection, we hypothesize that BCG vaccination may induce (partial) protection against susceptibility to and/or severity of SARS-CoV-2 infection. This study will evaluate the efficacy of BCG to reduce risk of infection by SARS-CoV-2 and mitigate COVID-19 disease severity in at risk health care providers. A phase III randomized controlled trial provides the highest validity to answer this research question. Given the immediate threat of the SARS-CoV-2 epidemic the trial has been designed as a pragmatic study with a highly feasible primary endpoint, which can be continuously measured. This allows for the most rapid identification of a beneficial outcome that would allow other at-risk individuals, including the control population, to also benefit from the intervention if and as soon as it has demonstrated efficacy and safety.

To assess the co-relation of COVID-19 in nasopharyngeal swabs and tears or saliva, and to determine duration of COVID-19 activity in ocular fluid and saliva by serial tests over 3 months.

The COVID-19 attack is polymorphic with otorhinolaryngological, pneumological, cardiac, digestive, neurological, muscular attacks with a higher mortality in subjects with comorbidity [> 70 years old, cardiovascular history in particular Arterial hypertension (hypertension ), heart disease…]. This polymorphism is linked to vasculitis and the immune response. Patients with cardiovascular disease are particularly at risk of decompensating, particularly due to the increased metabolism induced by viral infection and reduced cardiovascular capacities. On the cardiovascular level, two sides can be considered. On the one hand, cardiovascular disease (hypertension, coronary artery disease) is a comorbid factor. On the other hand, the myocardial damage reflected by the increase in troponin or an alteration of the ejection fraction is a very clear risk factor for death or severe form. Cardiovascular involvement is particularly high in hospitalized and deceased patients. The odds ratio calculated in a meta-analysis of severe forms of covid-19 with hypertension is 3 [1.9; 3.1], for cardiovascular pathologies of 2.93 [1.73; 4.96]. Recommendations were made for pulmonary rehabilitation but not for cardiovascular rehabilitation. Cardiac rehabilitation is indicated in most cardiovascular pathologies (after acute coronary syndrome, after coronary angioplasty, in heart failure, after coronary or valve heart surgery, etc.). It consists of a multidisciplinary approach combining therapeutic pharmacological adjustment, physical activity, therapeutic education in order to improve physical capacities for exertion and reduce morbidity and mortality. The physical exercises can be endurance or resistance type. Capacity gain at the end of rehabilitation is measured by visual scales, quality of life questionnaires, and a stress test at the start and end of rehabilitation. Most often, rehabilitation centers only do the stress test and estimate through questioning for subjective improvement. The hypothesis is that patients who contracted COVID-19 would have lower cardiac capacities after recovery from the infection than patients without COVID-19 or that their capacity for recovery would be less. There could be a difference in recovery after cardiac rehabilitation between the two populations regardless of whether the cardiac damage requiring rehabilitation was triggered by COVID-19 or was pre-existing.

With the recent worldwide outbreak of the COVID-19 infection and the huge impact it has had upon lives in the UK, it is key to increase knowledge on the impact of the virus on the body. Certain aspects of the virus' characteristics are also poorly understood: The reason behind the variation in response between individuals, and the long-term impacts of infection upon the body. It is already known from previous research that muscle-health plays an important role in health, with other illnesses known to have an impact upon muscle health. A large number of studies have investigated the relationship between muscle and health, with an increasing focus upon the impact upon the mitochondria within the muscle cells. Mitochondria are the energy-producing component of a cell and are vital not just for the muscle-cells but for the body as a whole. The researchers hope that by investigating the impact of COVID-19 infection upon human skeletal muscle, the question of why individuals have different responses to the infection and the mechanism of the longer-term impact of infection can be answered. This added knowledge will then, hopefully, be able to guide therapy targets in the future.

COVID-19 outcomes are worse in male patients. Androgen signaling, therefore, is a target for clinical exploration. TMPRSS2 is a membrane protease required for COVID pathogenesis that is regulated by androgens. Blocking TMPRSS2 with bicalutamide may reduce viral replication and improve the clinical outcome. Therefore, the study proposes to test bicalutamide at 150 mg oral daily dosing in a double-blind placebo-controlled randomized trial in male patients with early symptomatic COVID-19 disease.

Covid-19 also primarily affects endothelium that line up the alveoli. The resulting hypoxemia may differ from "typical" Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS) due to maldistribution of perfusion related to the ventilation. Thus, pathophysiology of Covid-19 ARDS is different, which requires different interventions than typical ARDS. The investigators will assess whether extravascular lung water index and permeability of the alveolar capillary differs from typical ARDS with transpulmonary thermodilution (TPTD) technique. Extravascular Lung Water Index (EVLWI) and Pulmonary Vascular Permeability Index (PVPI) will be compared.

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the efficacy and safety of metformin glycinate at dose of 620 mg twice per day plus standard treatment comparing to standard treatment alone (we will use placebo) of patients who have metabolic syndrome or type 2 diabetes, which have severe acute respiratory syndrome secondary to SARS-CoV-2.

CovIdentify is a research initiative to promote early detection of COVID-19 infections from wearable device data. CovIdentify will primarily be a feasibility study to explore the potential of wearables to detect COVID-19 infection. The investigators will refine our previous statistical and machine learning-based anomaly detection algorithms toward COVID-19 detection using personalized models of health and detect deviations indicative of infection. The investigators will validate and test specificity and sensitivity of the models for detecting COVID-19 infection vs. non-infection against symptom surveys and COVID-19 test results and hospital admissions data.

This is an open-label, randomized, blank-controlled treatment clinical study. The objective of this study is to investigate the effect of T89 on improving oxygen saturation and clinical symptoms in patients with Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19). In this study, estimated total of 120-240 male and female patients who have been diagnosed with non-critical type of coronavirus pneumonia (COVID-19) will be enrolled and randomly assigned to one of two study groups, the T89 treatment group and the blank control group, to T89 or nothing on the base of a recommended standard treatment for up to 14 days . The primary efficacy parameters include the time to oxygen saturation recovery to normal level (≥97%), the proportion of patients with normal level of oxygen saturation after treatment, and the total duration of oxygen inhalation, oxygen flow change by time, oxygen concentration change by time during treatment.