University Health System among first to test a potential COVID-19 treatment

Physicians at University Health System are among the first in the country to help test a drug that may prove effective in treating COVID-19.

The drug, remdesivir, is an experimental, antiviral therapy that may prevent the virus from reproducing in the patient’s body. The drug has been tested in humans with Ebola. It also has been tested in animals in studies of the Middle Eastern respiratory syndrome, MERS, and severe acute respiratory syndrome, SARS, which are caused by other coronaviruses.

COVID-19 patients enrolled in the clinical trial must be 18 or older and critically ill.

Dr. Thomas Patterson, chief of the Division of Infectious Disease at UT Health, is leading the study at University Hospital, which is among 75 testing sites across the country.

Local media coverage on this research study include reports published by KSAT TV, KENS5 TV, Fox29 TV, News4 TV and the San Antonio Express-News.