Mass. General testing nitric oxide treatment
Among first hospitals to attempt method
A “remarkable” drug known to relax blood vessels could help coronavirus patients with severely damaged lungs and will be tested at Massachusetts General Hospital, making it among the first centers in the nation to participate in the study.
Nitric oxide, a colorless gas that can improve the delivery of oxygen to injured tissues saved many newborn babies with heart defects and was even named “molecule of the year” in 1992 in the journal Science.
“It’s a pretty remarkable drug,” said Dr. Lorenzo Berra, the critical-care specialist at Massachusetts General Hospital who is leading the new trial. “It has a risk profile that is minimal.”
The international study taking place in Massachusetts, Alabama, Louisiana, Sweden and Austria tests inhaled nitric oxide in patients with mild to moderate cases of the coronavirus and is delivered through a CPAP breathing machine for 20-30 minutes twice a day for two weeks.
“We have tremendous confidence this therapy will alter the devastating effects of COVID-19 but we must test it. If results show promise, and since this gas is already FDA approved, widespread use could begin immediately,” said Dr. Keith Scott, principal investigator of the trial taking place at Louisiana State University Health in Shreveport, La.
The trial will also test if the treatment could cut down on the number of patients who need a ventilator to breathe, as they are currently in short supply across the nation.
“Nitric oxide is one of possibly many therapeutic agents that may show it will help mitigate COVID-19 severe lung injury. It is not a silver bullet but it’s our hope it would have a positive affect on the on reducing the progression of a disease that devastates the lungs,” said Scott.
A proposed second trial that is being reviewed would enroll health care workers who are routinely exposed to coronavirus patients. Under that potential study, staff would inhale a high dose of the drug for 10 to 15 minutes at the start and end of every shift.
Other coronavirus treatments continue to advance as the number of cases in the United States tops 330,000.
A combination of hydroxychloroquine and zinc is showing promise at a California Hospital, Mend Urgent Care CEO Dr. Anthony Cardillo said in an interview with ABC7 Los Angeles.
“Every patient I have prescribed it to has been very, very ill and within eight to 12 hours, they were basically symptom-free,” said Cardillo.
Remdesivir, another experimental drug that has worked against other coronaviruses has patients rushing to join studies in hospitals that opened in the last few weeks.
The drug is given intravenously and could prevent infection and reduce the severity of symptoms when given early enough in the course of illness.