N.L. COVID-19 patients part of worldwide drug trial

Some COVID-19 patients in Newfoundland and Labrador are part of a worldwide search for drugs to help treat the virus.

It's called a solidarity trial, and Dr. Peter Daley, aninfectious disease doctor with Eastern Health, said it's the largest clinical trial ever done in humans spanning 52 countries and 14,000 patients, some of whom are in N.L.

"We're proud to be part of a global effort which is working in collaboration towards fighting the virus," said Daley, who is involved in the study.

Patients who are admitted to hospital with COVID-19 are approached and asked to be part of a research study, which is how people from Newfoundland and Labrador were recruited.

Daley said doctors would prefer to prevent infection, but treatment drugs could save lives, especially in people with severe symptoms.

The goal of COVID-19 treatment drugs is to slow or stop the virus from replicating, and to mitigate inflammation.

Right now, there are randomized control trials being done on three drugs:one used to treat certain types of cancers, a powerfulanti-inflammatory drug, and one used to treat malaria.

The information learned from a study of this magnitude is something Daleysaid is important.

"Those of us that are in science and health need to defend high-quality, scientific information, because we are under some attack by an aggressive agenda that says people don't trust what we're saying," he said.

Daley said they're working to counter misinformation propagatedin part on social media, including vaccine misinformation and the notion that ivermectin can help treat COVID-19.

Ivermectin is used to rid livestock of parasites, butHealth Canada says there is no evidence to suggest it prevents or treats COVID-19, and warns that consuming it could lead to"potential serious health dangers." Yet Daleysaid patients will still bring it up.

"I'm surrounded by [not] just patients but family contacts that are believing really unfortunate and ridiculous ideas," he said.

Daley said being involved in worldwide clinical trials is one way to "defend good-quality, scientific information against, let's say low quality or anti-science misinformation."

He suggests people take a look at the source of their information.

"Information that's propagated by individual rogue physician opinions, or weak-quality evidence such as case series or observational studies is not to be considered at the same quality as randomized control trials," he said.

Read more from CBC Newfoundland and Labrador