N.S. researchers to study treatments on COVID-19 hospital patients
Provincewide study could include up to 600 patients with moderate to severe cases
Nova Scotians hospitalized with COVID-19 will be invited to take part in a study that will look at the effectiveness of treatments and the effect the virus has on the immune system.
The study, announced Monday by the Nova Scotia Health Authority, could eventually include 600 patients at six health authority sites across the province.
The number of active cases of COVID-19 in Nova Scotia has dwindled over the past couple of weeks.
But the lead researcher in the study, Dr. Lisa Barrett, a clinician scientist with the health authority and Dalhousie University, said she expects that will change.
"As we move forward, I would love to say that I do not think we are going to have a second wave of infection, here in Nova Scotia or anywhere," Barrett told CBC's Information Morning Cape Breton.
"But we probably will. And as that happens, and we have people in hospital, these individuals will be approached about being a part of the study."
Barrett said some patients in Halifax and Dartmouth have already enrolled.
She said patients will be assessed, depending on which treatment is deemed safest for them, over a period of 10 days to see how they improve.
Barrett said blood work will also help researchers assess the impact the virus has on people's immune systems.
She said the hope is to develop more effective treatments and gain a better understanding of why some people get much sicker than others.
And unlike many medical studies, which limit participants and have a strict list of restrictions, Barrett said this study will cast a much wider net.
"We very much want this to be an inclusive and real-world study," she said.
Study will evolve
Barrett said as knowledge about COVID-19 and its treatment emerges, the study will change.
"If there are new or promising medications that become noted around the globe, we [will] align our use of medications with those other studies in a real-world way," she said.
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With files from CBC's Information Morning Cape Breton