Covid-19 Trial Seeking Volunteers

The Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research and Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory are seeking volunteers for  a clinical trial of famotidine, commonly known as Pepcid, for use in Covid-19 treatment.

The virtual trial is recruiting patients across the area who have tested positive for COVID-19, but are experiencing only mild to moderate symptoms that do not require hospitalization.

Participants will be trained to use a cellular activated Apple iPad from their home, along with a Bluetooth enabled scale, thermometer, fitness tracker, spirometer (to study air flow in and out of the lungs), thermometer and pulse oximeter (to measure blood oxygen levels). Placebo or famotidine at 240 mg per day will be prescribed, and taken orally, for a maximum of 14 days. Northwell’s Home Lab program will be utilized for required blood draws and COVID-19 diagnostic nasal swabs tests. This trial is designed to keep trial participants completely out of the hospital throughout the course of their treatment.

 “From the comfort of these patients’ own homes, we are taking the traditional clinical trial completely digital to study the efficacy and safety of a potential COVID-19 therapy,” said Tobias Janowitz, MD, PhD, a medical oncologist, principal investigator of the trial, assistant professor at CSHL, and adjunct professor at the Feinstein Institutes. “From assessment, to enrollment and daily data collection, we hope this study’s model will be an example for future clinical trials, and will provide high quality data as we assess candidate treatments, like famotidine, to curb this disease.”

For those interested to learn more about the outpatient famotidine clinical trial, please email [email protected].

Famotidine is a common, safe over-the-counter drug used to treat heartburn and assist with healing gastrointestinal ulcers. In April 2020, the Feinstein Institutes started the nation’s first famotidine clinical trial, which enrolled more than 230 patients. The initiation of the clinical trial was based on anecdotal reports from China that patients taking the drug had better outcomes from COVID-19.

“It’s been more than a year since this pandemic has spread across the globe, and there is only one fully-authorized COVID-19 therapeutic,” said Kevin J. Tracey, MD, president and CEO of the Feinstein Institutes. “This innovative clinical trial of patients in their own homes should provide important data to determine if a safe and inexpensive drug may be useful for COVID-19 patients.”

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