Djazz schreef op 4 september 2020 09:37:
foxsanantonio.com/features/coronaviru...Begrijpelijke druk om zo een leven te redden:
Family wants experimental COVID-19 drug to be used at San Antonio hospitals
by Morgan BurrellFriday, September 4th
A local family is pushing for doctors to use a new experimental drug to help their loved one in his fight against COVID-19.
SAN ANTONIO - A local family is pushing for doctors to use a new experimental drug to help their loved one in his fight against COVID-19.
"There are several hospitals throughout the United States that have had promising results," said Leticia Pacheco, whose fiancé is battling the virus.
The drug, which is called Aviptadil (RLF-100), has not been proven to work yet but is being used in clinical trials at the University of California - Irvine, the Miller School of Medicine - Miami, the University of Louisville and Houston Methodist Hospital.
The drug is available to critically ill patients even though scientists are still researching the effectiveness of it on those with COVID-19 and respiratory failure.
Aviptadil received Fast Track Designation from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in July.
"If there is a drug that's working we need to offer that to everyone," Pacheco said.
Pacheco, whose fiancé is battling COVID-19 at Baptist Medical Center, said she wants doctors to use it there.
"He should have every opportunity to be able to recover from this," Pacheco said.
In an emailed statement, a spokesperson with Baptist Health System could not comment on this particular patient's case but added that its doctors rely on federal agencies for guidance on new treatments.
We are committed to providing every patient with excellent care in accordance with the patient’s treatment plan as determined by his or her physicians and their clinical conditions. In the case of COVID, our physicians rely on recommendations made by the CDC, FDA and other expert bodies who have published official guidelines. We at the hospital stay up to date on those recommendations to provide them to our care team to help inform their decisions to balance risks and benefits of all therapies.
Still, Pacheco would like to see the drug used on her fiancé through the expanded use program.
"We're just trying to give Joe a fighting chance," Pacheco said.
According to the NeuroRx, the company that produces the drug, anyone who cannot be treated at an existing clinical trial site can be treated at a hospital as long as a board-certified critical care doctor enrolls as an investigator in the expanded access program and completes the required documentation."This will take about an hour of your doctor’s time to complete," the website states. "Because of the life-threatening nature of COVID-19 respiratory failure, our drug – at this point in time – is only being given in the Intensive Care setting and we can only include physicians who are experts at critical care as investigators under our expanded access protocol.”