Donations to LHSF’s COVID-19 Response Fund are supporting LHSC’s involvement in a worldwide trial based out of Sunnybrook Research Institute, in collaboration with the World Health Organization.

The study is testing a few promising therapies as treatment for COVID-19: lopinavir/ritonavir, used in the past to treat patients with HIV and SARS, and remdesivir, a safe investigational therapeutic agent that has recently gained widespread media attention. The study also proposed the testing hydroxychloroquine, which is used for treatment in a number of rheumatologic conditions and malaria. As of May 22, the international Executive Group of the Solidarity trial implemented a temporary pause of the use of hydroxychloroquine while the safety data is reviewed. 

This two-year trial, to be conducted at LHSC and St. Joseph’s Health Care London sites, will be run in conjunction with countries around the world and is designed to evaluate the efficacy of these drugs in combatting COVID-19. 

Global participation means scientists can find answers sooner than if each centre was running its own independent trial, and they can adapt their approaches as the trial progresses.

Dr. Michael Silverman, London’s city-wide chair/chief of infectious diseases and Lawson scientist, is the local principal investigator for the study and is encouraged that donor funding helped facilitate London’s involvement in the trial.

“Our engagement in this trial not only allows our patients to benefit from access to potentially helpful agents, it also enhances staff morale in being able to offer specific antiviral therapeutics to our patients and engages LHSC in a global effort to help rapidly find optimal treatments for this pandemic,” Dr. Silverman says.

Thank you to our donors for supporting these critical initiatives. Not only do they highlight London’s position as a global leader in medical research breakthroughs, but most importantly, this research is vital to fighting COVID-19 and saving lives.