CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- The University of Illinois Chicago will conduct three clinical trials for studying blood clot prevention in patients with COVID-19.
UIC said the three clinical trials will study the safety and effectiveness of various types of blood thinners to treat adults diagnosed with COVID-19. The trials are part of the antithrombotics arm of the National Institutes of Health’s Accelerating COVID-19 Therapeutic Interventions and Vaccines, or ACTIV, initiative.
“Blood clots are one of the leading complications of COVID-19,” said Dr. Jerry Krishnan, UIC associate vice chancellor for population health sciences. “Patients with COVID-19 often form blood clots throughout their bodies, which, if untreated, can lead to organ damage, including stroke, pulmonary embolism and heart attacks. We need to stop blood clot formation in order to prevent these potentially fatal complications of COVID-19 infection.”
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All three clinical trials are coordinated and overseen by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute and are funded through Operation Warp Speed.
UIC is the only institution in Chicago that served on the NIH’s Protocol Development Committees for these national clinical trials.
“Through these trials, we want to find out the best way to use approved blood clot treatments and prevention strategies for patients with COVID-19,” said Krishnan, who also is UIC professor of medicine at the College of Medicine, professor of public health at the School of Public Health and executive director at the Institute for Healthcare Delivery Design.
Two of the three trials have launched at UIC.