(Eagle News) – The Philippines will be joining the World Health Organization’s Solidarity Trial that is finding a cure for the coronavirus disease that has claimed more than 50,000 lives worldwide.
The Department of Health announced this on Thursday as cases in the country reached more than 2,600 with at least 107 deaths. On Friday, the cases jumped to 3,018 with 136 deaths
Worldwide the virus has already infected more than 1 million people, with the United States topping the list of countries with the most infections at more than 245,000.
“Nais ko pong ipaalam sa inyo na tayo po ay sasali sa Solidarity trial na isinagawa ng World Health Organization para sa COVID-19,” Health Secretary Francisco Duque said in a televised virtual presser on April 2.
He said that the country would join the worldwide search for a cure for COVID-19.
As of April 1, WHO Director General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that 74 countries have either joined the trial or are in the process of joining.
More than 200 patients had been randomly assigned to one of the study arms, he said.
“Each new patient who joins the trial gets us one step closer to knowing which drugs work,” he said.
Duque said that Dr. Marissa Alejandria of the Philippine Society of Microbiology and Infectious Diseases will be the Philippines’ representatives to the WHO study.
Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire will serve as the DOH liaison to WHO Solidarity Trial.
Recently, Norway and Spain enrolled patients for the trial that will test the efficacy of at least four drug combinations.
“This is a historic trial which will dramatically cut the time needed to generate robust evidence about what drugs work,” WHO director-general Tedros said.
“The more countries who join the trial, the faster we will have results,” he said.
The trial includes research looking at four possible therapeutics: remdesivir; chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine; lopinavir plus ritonavir; and lopinavir plus ritonavir and interferon-beta.
(Eagle News Service)
