Qld researchers launch COVID-19 drug trial but they’ve got no one to enrol – yet

Queensland is doing so well at curbing the spread of coronavirus it’s interfering with the state’s participation in an international drug trial.

RESEARCHERS have launched Queensland’s participation in an international trial to test the benefits of two antiviral drugs on patients with coronavirus, but they are yet to enrol anyone because the state is doing so well in controlling its spread.

Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital infectious disease doctor David Paterson said 11 Queensland hospitals would take part in the trial, involving COVID-19 patients in Australia and New Zealand, to assess the anti-malaria drug hydroxychloroquine and the HIV drug, Kaletra.

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Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital infectious disease doctor, Professor David Paterson. Photo: Glenn Hunt

“It’s a good news-bad news story,” he said today.

“Of course, it’s fantastic that we don’t have any patients to enrol because we’ve done so well at our social distancing and controlling the COVID-19 issue here in Queensland.

“But we’ll be ready if there is a second wave, as unfortunately we have observed in other countries.

“We’ll be here ready to enrol Queenslanders into these studies so that we can give them the best possible therapy and really evaluate what is the right way to treat patients with COVID-19.”

Only patients who require admission to hospital are eligible for the trial, but cannot be enrolled if they are in an intensive care unit or if they are being treated in hospitals not part of the research, funded by the Federal Government, the RBWH Foundation and the Anthony Pratt Foundation.

“It’s important to realise that the vast majority of patients who get COVID-19 are going to get better by themselves,” Professor Paterson said.

“We’ve purposely not involved patients who are at home in the community because almost certainly, they’ll get better.

“If you’re in ICU … those patients might not actually benefit from antiviral drugs because their condition has deteriorated so much.

“The sweet spot is patients who are admitted to hospital.

“They’re sick enough to be an inpatient but not so sick to be in the intensive care unit.”

Patients will be randomly assigned to four different arms of the trial – one will receive standard care and will not be given either antiviral drug, another group will be treated with hydroxychloroquine, a third group will receive Kaletra and the fourth will be treated with a combination of both antiviral drugs.

Across Australia and New Zealand, more than 70 hospitals have signed up to take part in the trial, with researchers hoping to enrol 2500 COVID-19 patients.

Queensland Health Minister Steven Miles said 21 people were in Queensland hospitals today being treated for COVID-19, including six in ICUs.

“It’s an almost ironic outcome of our own success that we have too few patients right now to trial these treatments on,” Mr Miles said.

“But of course, we know it is likely that there will be more patients down the track and that will give us an opportunity to test whether these treatments are effective.”

Professor Paterson, the director of the University of Queensland’s Centre for Clinical Research, praised the state’s response to the coronavirus pandemic, urging caution before any public health restrictions were eased.

“We can’t just completely pull our foot off the brake and let things go back to how they were at the beginning of the year,” he said.

“We really do have to maintain our vigilance so that we keep Queensland in such a wonderful position that we find ourselves in at the present time.

“The path we’ve gone down in Queensland and Australia has been the correct one.

“That’s been the path of very vigorous testing, very vigorous contact tracing and I think we’ve shown to the world that this was the correct approach.”

For more information about the trial visit ascot-trial.edu.au