- The Discovery research project, aimed at finding one or more effective drugs to prevent the spread of the virus in the body, is progressing.
- Fifteen days after its launch, hundreds of patients hospitalized in France were included in the clinical trial.
- But it is still too early to have results, as Florence Ader, infectiologist at the Hospices Civils de Lyon and researcher at the international center for research in infectiology pointed out on Wednesday on the progress of the project.
To know the first results of the clinical trial against the coronavirus piloted in Lyon, it will take a few more weeks. But already, several hundred patients from all over France have been included in this European research project, dubbed Discovery and promoted by Inserm. It is intended to quickly find effective molecules to fight against the multiplication of the virus in the body.
Sixteen days after the official start of this clinical trial, Florence Ader, infectious disease specialist in the infectious diseases department of the Croix-Rousse hospital of the Hospices Civils de Lyon (HCL) and researcher at the international infectious diseases research center, did this Wednesday a first point on the progress of the test.
Historical research
"It is the first time in the history of epidemics of the pandemic type (which affect the whole world) that we carry out research in real time", recalls the infectiologist of the HCL. Trials and research work in progress in several countries are indeed carried out even as the epidemic progresses to find effective molecules against the coronavirus. "It's a race against the clock," sums up the Lyonnaise, recalling that during the last big pandemic, in 1917, with the Spanish flu which killed at least 50 million people, nothing could have been proposed to try to fight the virus. "At one point we achieved group immunity and the pandemic had died out by itself."
Four treatments tested against a virus that multiplies in the body
To understand what specialists are trying to do, one must understand how the virus works. "The coronavirus is a disease that has a fairly long evolution," recalls Florence Ader. During the first week, after entering the body, it will multiply. "Our body has no immune response since it is a disease that we do not know," adds the infectious disease specialist. Between the 7th and the 14th day, the disease can worsen, which leads to the mass hospitalizations that our country has experienced in recent weeks.
When the patient's condition deteriorates sharply, this may be linked to an overly strong immune response of their body against Covid-19. This can lead to a deterioration in their general condition and their placement in intensive care or resuscitation in the most severe cases. Other patients, however, have no immune response, which means that their body will not be able to prevent the virus from multiplying and fighting it. Which also lead to severe forms. All the work of the scientists involved in the Discovery project is therefore to find a molecule, an antiviral, which will be able to slow down the multiplication of the virus in these patients.
Patients included in the trial throughout France
The Discovery project, which started at the Lyon University Hospital and the Bichat Hospital in Paris on March 22, now includes 25 centers (hospitals) throughout France. Over the past 16 days, around 530 Covid-19 patients and hospitalized patients have been included in the project, which plans to include a total of 3,000 European patients, including 800 French. For each patient, whose state of health required hospitalization, one of the four treatments under study is implemented. Namely: remdesivir, an antiviral designed to fight against the Ebola virus, lopinavir, a molecule used against HIV which will be evaluated in combination with ritonavir. This treatment will be experimented with or not combined with interferon beta (an antiviral immunomodulator), to check if this combination of molecules "allows to block the inflammatory process" (respiratory problems) which appears with the coronavirus. Finally, hydroxychloroquine. The clinical trial must make it possible to "discriminate" these molecules, that is to say to see if they are effective on the virus and lead to an improvement in the clinical condition of the patient.
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Results entrusted to an independent committee
This essay mobilizes actors from the public, but also from the private sector. Supported by Inserm and supported by the National Medicines Safety Agency and the general management of healthcare organization, Discovery has also benefited from the involvement of pharmaceutical companies which have "provided free" molecules tested in the project , says Florence Ader. The data collected from patients is not analyzed by doctors but transmitted to an independent international committee. The latter will therefore analyze the results and effectiveness of treatments on the virus over time.
To measure the effectiveness of a molecule on the coronavirus, it is necessary to let pass the 15 days that the illness lasts. To benefit from the committee's reliable data on the first 300 patients included in the trial, we will still have to wait. "We won't have anything until at least the end of April," adds the scientist.
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