To date, the few medications with proven effectiveness in COVID-19 are appropriate primarily for the treatment of severely ill, hospitalized patients in well-resourced healthcare settings. WHO recommends the use of monoclonal antibody treatment for people with early-stage COVID-19, but these treatments too are expensive and complex to use in resource-constrained settings. No proven medications for uncomplicated COVID-19 are widely available in low- and middle-income countries.
So where are we today with new and emerging therapeutics that would be both effective and affordable in preventing the progression of mild or moderate COVID-19 and thereby prevent hospitalization? A couple of promising treatments have emerged recently, with early efforts underway to make these drugs more available than COVID-19 vaccines have been. What are the current research priorities, and do current efforts meet the needs?
The COVID-19 Clinical Research Coalition is hosting a webinar that will:
- Summarize the therapeutics development landscape for COVID-19
- Discuss the challenges in prioritizing drugs to be studied
- Assess the treatment needs in low- and middle-income countries
- Discuss the challenges of ensuring affordable access to new therapeutics, and what can be done now to ensure equitable access globally to proven medicines.
Watch the recording
Agenda
| Welcome and introduction Patricia García, Cayetano Heredia University, Peru |
| Where are we now with COVID-19 therapeutics? A Latin American perspective Ludovic Reveiz, PAHO, USA |
| Where are we now with COVID-19 therapeutics? A South African perspective Jeremy Nel, University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa |
| Practical realities in COVID-19 treatment now. What is needed? Samba Sow, Centre for Vaccine Development, Mali |
| Impact of recent clinical trial results on current research priorities Nathalie Strub-Wourgaft, COVID-19 Response and Pandemic Preparedness Director, DNDi, Switzerland |
| If medicines work, how can we ensure people get them? Leena Menghaney, MSF Access Campaign, India |
| Roundtable and Q&A Moderators: Podjanee Jittamala, Faculty of Tropical Medicine, Mahidol University, Thailand, and Nick White, Mahidol-Oxford Research Unit, Thailand, and Chair of DNDi‘s Scientific Advisory Committee |
