Franciscan wants volunteers for COVID-19 study
Franciscan Health Hammond wants volunteers for a COVID-19 study it hopes could lead to a new treatment.
The hospital is participating in pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly’s study to test if an engineered antibody drug, called LY-CoV555, could neutralize the virus early in patients that only show mild symptoms, before the condition progresses to hospitalization.
Around 15 volunteers or more are needed at Franciscan in Hammond, Dr. Erica Kaufman West, a hospital infectious disease doctor said. Lilly’s study — called BLAZE-1 — is recruiting 400 volunteers in 24 sites nationwide, including another Franciscan hospital in Indianapolis. So far, about one-third total have signed up, she said.
“We are asking those folks to sort of be ‘soldiers for science,‘” Kaufman West said. They can sign up over the next few weeks.
The majority of COVID-19 patients do not need hospitalization, but the potential long-term impact including on areas like the heart, kidneys and brain, is not yet fully known.
Volunteers must have specific qualifications:
▮ 18 or older; tested positive within three days prior to participating
▮ Must have at least one COVID-19 symptom: fever, cough, sore throat, headache, muscle pain, nausea, abdominal pain, diarrhea or shortness of breath when active.
▮ No pregnant women or nursing mothers
Eli Lilly lab researchers examined antibodies in the first U.S. person to recover from COVID-19, Kaufman West said. They picked one that appeared to consistently “cover,” or cap the virus’ spikes, which is how it latches onto cells to replicate, she said.
The goal is to stop it in its tracks. If a virus can’t replicate, that cuts down on a person’s infection risk to others. For cells, it’s like creating a “force field,” she said.
Doctors are discovering COVID-19 has two phases, she said. One, when symptoms are mild. In some, those progress to “inflammation,” where the immune system is caught in a dangerous storm as it overreacts to
the virus.
Catching the virus in an earlier phase has advantages, Kaufman West said.
“We know that giving antibodies in that ‘inflammation’ phase is not very helpful, because the virus is gone by that point,” she said. “We have to give this early.”
It’s a different treatment method from using someone’s plasma, she said. That method, famously used during the 1918 flu pandemic, was reserved for the worst cases.
“The problem with giving plasma, which is antibodies (drawn from someone else who had COVID-19), it does nothing to mount my own response,” she said. “It protects me in that period of time, but it doesn’t give any lasting immunity, because it’s not my body’s antibodies.”
“A goal is that if we catch people early, we don’t have to wait till they are dying to save them (with plasma),” she said.
The study is in phase two - meaning testing if it’s effective, she said. It would have to be tested again in a larger group, if going on for potential approval.
Franciscan has been handing out flyers at its Munster testing site and notifying patients via ERs and urgent care clinics. The study lasts about three months, Kaufman West said.
Initially, volunteers get a onehour IV hookup infusion at Franciscan that’s either a drug or placebo. They are monitored for two hours, checking for any bad reactions.
Over time, they undergo various tests, including physical exams, vitals, blood tests and nose swabs.
It is the first study she’s been a part of at Franciscan for an infectious disease, Kaufman West said, and could expand opportunities locally to help with other medical research.
Using the same drug, LYCoV555, Eli Lilly is currently conducting a different study, called BLAZE-2, to see if it can be used to stop the virus from spreading in nursing homes. Franciscan is not involved with it, she said.
The company is testing 2,400 people to see if one dose can cut infection rates over four weeks, or complications up to eight weeks, according to a release.
Call Eli Lilly at 833-277-0197 or go to JoinCOVIDStudy.com to see if you are eligible for the study.