UVA participating in COVID-19 treatment clinical trial

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (WVIR) - One doctor with UVA Health is on the hunt for a new COVID-19 treatment.

Doctor Patrick Jackson is leading a national ACTIV-6 study right in Charlottesville, though you don’t need to be nearby to participate.

“If any of these drugs turns out to be helpful for outpatients, they’re cheap, they’re globally available, and really can make a big difference in COVID-19,” Jackson said.

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of repurposed medications with drugs that have already been FDA approved for other ailments. Jackson says he is cautiously optimistic about the results they have seen so far.

“Currently, we’re looking at a Fluvoxamine, which is an antidepressant medication that patients take by mouth that’s currently being studied,” Jackson said. “We recently completed two arms of the trial, including an arm that was looking at Ivermectin.”

Dr. Jackson says Ivermectin is usually used to treat parasites, but now it could be a COVID-19 treatment. More information from their recent studies should be released soon, and they should be starting a new arm any minute.

“They’re looking at how this antidepressant might have a role in decreasing inflammation,” Jackson said. “That in itself, I think is pretty surprising.”

They are still enrolling new patients for the study. If you are least 30 years old and have COVID-19 symptoms for seven days, you can sign up. It is all a remote study.

“Patients don’t need to come into Charlottesville even to get this done,” Jackson said. “We mail patients drugs, we follow up with them electronically, so people can do this entirely from home.”

To sign up for this clinical trial at UVA you can go to Activ-6 Study (activ6study.org)

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