The United Kingdom is expected to begin testing a drug called HEAL-COVID in an effort to reduce mortality and re-admission cases in patients previously hospitalized with the novel coronavirus.
According to the report by Arena Clinical Trials, data collected by the UK Office for National Statistics showed that 29 per cent of patients in the Covid-19 hospital were admitted within six months. Although more than 12 percent died within the same period.
Thus, the new test will help the government to identify drugs that can reduce deaths and hospital admissions in Covid-19 survivors.
The study is funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) and the NIHR Cambridge Center for Biomedical Research. The trial is being led by Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and Cambridge University.
This will be done in collaboration with the Liverpool Clinical Testing Center at Aparito, a clinical trial technology company based at the Universities of Liverpool and Wrexham.
HEAL-COVID (short for helping to reduce the long-term effects of Covid-19) will test a selection of safe, existing drugs on the market for patients on across the UK to find effective treatments, according to the official release.
“After surviving the trauma of being hospitalized with Covid-19, too many patients are being returned to hospital with new or long-term complications,” said a study director from Cambridge University and Addenbrooke’s Hospital. Dr. Charlotte Summers.
“Unfortunately, many die in the months after their release. This trial is the first of its kind to look at the drugs we could use to reduce the devastating effect on patients. ”
HEAL-COVID will examine people who are newly discharged from hospital, after their first admission for Covid-19.