CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- A couple of clinical trials are underway in Chicago and around the world on a drug that might be effective in treating COVID-19.
The clinical trials of Remdesivir are going on in 75 locations across the globe and at the University of Illinois-at Chicago and Northwestern University.
"In the laboratory, it has potent effects against coronaviruses," said Dr. Richard Novak, Chief of Infectious Diseases at UIC.
In all, Dr. Novak said some 440 patients around the world are expected to be involved in the study.
"We also have some evidence from earlier studies in animals that it works against the earlier versions of coronaviruses that emerged in this past decade," such as MERS-CoV and SARS-CoV, Dr. Novak said.
Dr. Novak said UIC will recruit 10 patients for the study. Two people with COVID-19 are already enrolled. They include a middle-aged man and a woman who is over 80-years old. Dr. Novak said both have underlying diseases and "are quite sick".
The doctor said it's a "double-blind" study. "
Neither the patients nor we, the doctors, know what’s being administered. People who are enrolled in the study have a 50/50 chance of getting the drug versus, basically, salt water," he said.
Dr. Novak said Remdesivir showed some success against the Ebola virus.
"It looks promising, and since there’s already some human experience with it, we know that it’s relatively safe," he said.
Still, the doctor points out there are some “very strict criteria” for being admitted into the study. He said people can be sick with COVID-19, but because of the nature of the drug, they have to have good kidney and liver functions to participate so they aren’t poisoned.
Dr. Novak believes it could be up to a couple of months before we know how effective Remdesivir is. He said there is a safety group that is monitoring the results of the clinical trials, and if it shows overwhelming success or overwhelming failure, the study would be stopped early.