VCU joins national trial testing three new drugs for COVID-19
As a Clinical and Translational Science Award hub, the Wright Center was key to bringing a new clinical treatment trial for COVID-19 to VCU Health. Arun Sanyal, M.D., the education core director at the center, will lead the ACTIV-1 trial, testing three immune modulator drugs on people hospitalized with COVID-19.
“The hope is that these drugs might restore balance to the immune system,” said trial lead Arun Sanyal, M.D., a professor in the Department of Internal Medicine in the VCU School of Medicine. “The cytokine storm can lead to respiratory distress, organ failure and other life-threatening complications, so a drug that counteracts these symptoms could reduce fatalities, shorten hospital stays and lessen the need for ventilators.”