Nearly Half of Americans Surveyed Willing to Consider Participating in Generic Drug Trials for COVID-19 Treatments Despite Testing Notification Delays up to Six Days

NEW YORK, Aug. 23, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- COVID-19 therapeutic clinical trials like the Montreal Heart Institute's COLCORONA trial are experiencing enrollment issues due to a lack of awareness during the political season and testing notification delays. A Harris Polling survey conducted last week shows over 60% of Americans have heard or read little to nothing at all about available clinical trials for newly diagnosed COVID-19 patients involving generic medications or drugs that are already approved for other uses.

"Unfortunately, a significant number of Americans, 77 percent, are informed about the usage of hydroxychloroquine while being unaware of clinical trials like the COLCORONA trial that are testing treatments available immediately upon results," said Dr. Jean-Claude Tardif, Director of the Research Center at MHI, Professor of Medicine at the University of Montreal, and COLCORONA principal investigator. "Hydroxychloroquine has shown disappointing results in studies leading to a rescinding of emergency authorization by the FDA, while three smaller studies showed a great deal of promise with colchicine. Each of those studies concluded that we need quality, robust clinical trials like COLCORONA to definitively change clinical practice for colchicine usage."

The international COLCORONA clinical trial is evaluating colchicine, a common drug for gout, as a potential treatment to reduce severity of illness, complications, and hospitalizations due to COVID-19.

The COLCORONA trial has U.S. sites in the tri-state New York area (NY, NJ, CT) and has expanded to the following cities: Bakersfield (CA), San Francisco (CA), Los Angeles (CA), Miami (FL), Jacksonville (FL), Houston (TX), Dallas (TX), Phoenix (AZ), Yuma (AZ), and Rochester (MN), with sites continually added.

Non-hospitalized patients over 40 years old, diagnosed with COVID-19, can participate for free by calling the hotline at 1-877-536-6837. Once enrolled in the study, they will have the medicine or placebo delivered directly to their home and will also have the support of a dedicated healthcare team 24/7 for any questions. COLCORONA is an at-home, contact-less clinical study approved by health authorities that is designed to have minimal burden on patients and is one of the few current studies of COVID-19 infection in which non-hospitalized individuals can participate.

About the COLCORONA Trial
COLCORONA is a contact-free, at-home, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study run out of several regions in Canada, the United States, Europe, South America, and South Africa. COLCORONA is coordinated by the Montreal Health Innovations Coordinating Center (MHICC) and funded by the Government of Quebec, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) of the United States National Institutes of Health (NIH), and Sophie Desmarais Montréal philanthropist, daughter of the late business mogul, Paul Desmarais Sr. Pharmascience, CGI, and Dacima are also collaborators of COLCORONA. 

For more information about the study, visit www.colcorona.net.

About Colchicine
Colchicine is a generic, orally administered anti-inflammatory medication that is currently indicated for the management of pericarditis, gout, and familial Mediterranean fever. It is not a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory medicine. Colchicine was recently studied in the COLCOT study (published in New England Journal of Medicine), which showed that colchicine significantly reduces the risk of ischemic cardiovascular events. Colchicine has also been studied for treatment of COVID-19 in the GRECCO-19 study (with results published in the Journal of American Medicine Association) which showed statistically significant improvement in resumption of normal activities or time to clinical deterioration.

About the Montreal Heart Institute
Founded in 1954, the Montreal Heart Institute constantly aims for the highest standards of excellence in the cardiovascular field through its leadership in clinical and basic research, ultra-specialized care, professional training, and prevention. It houses the largest research center in Canada, the largest cardiovascular prevention center in the country, and the largest cardiovascular genetics center in Canada. The Institute is affiliated with the University of Montreal and has more than 2000 employees, including 245 doctors and more than 85 researchers.

About the Montreal Health Innovations Coordinating Center (MHICC)
The Montreal Health Innovations Coordinating Center (MHICC) is a leading academic clinical research organization and an integral part of the Montreal Heart Institute (MHI). The MHICC possesses an established network of collaborators in over 4500 clinical sites in more than 40 countries. It has specific expertise in precision medicine, low-cost high-quality clinical trials, and drug repurposing. 

Contact: Christina.Maginn@havas.com, (703) 297-7194  

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SOURCE Montreal Heart Institute