DOH exec: Avigan clinical trial hit a snag over lack of qualified COVID-19 patients

The clinical trial of the Japanese anti-flu drug Avigan in the Philippines has hit a snag due to absence of qualified COVID-19 patients classified as mild cases, the Department of Health said Friday.

Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said only four of the 100 required COVID-19 classified as mild cases for the Avigan trial as of November 5.

“Tablet kasi ito, to be given orally at ginagawa natin ito in hospital settings. Para ito sa mild cases lang, pero alam naman natin na sa ngayon, wala na masyadong na-a-admit na mild cases sa ating mga ospital,” Vergeire said in an online briefing.

“At dahil patuloy rin ang pagbaba ng ating mga kaso, hindi na tayo masyado nakakakita ng pasyente na ganitong [mild case] sa ating mga ospital. Kaya nagkakaroon ng challenge ang ating clinical trial team for Avigan,” she added.

Under government protocol, mild cases of COVID-19 will be treated under temporary treatment and monitoring facilities supervised by the national and local governments also as not to overwhelm the hospitals and other health care facilities needed to treating severe and critical COVID-19 cases.

Given the situation, Vergeire said that protocols on conducting clinical trial for Avigan is already being revised but conceded that the final output could take time.

“Nagrere-strategize ng protocol ang clinical trial team para magkaroon ng expansion, para ma-expand ang recruitment ng pasyente, para dumami at makatapos tayo ng 100 so we can have analysis for Avigan,” Vergeire said.

“Nirerebisa nila ngayon, pero dadaan ulit iyon sa ethics review and all. While we are waiting for the revision of the protocol, we are using the existing protocol,” she added.

The Avigan trial in the country is supposed to start in July, but it was repeatedly postponed until it was able to start this month.

The Philippines has recorded 389,725 COVID-19 cases so far. Of this number, 349,543 recovered while 7,409 died.

The number of active COVID-19 cases is at 32,773. Of this number, 83% are mild cases. — RSJ, GMA News