“By looking at which drugs have been successful at treating past coronavirus infections, we can predict which ones are likely to work against COVID-19,” -Dr. Derek MacFaddenResearchers at The Ottawa Hospital are exploring more than 50 research projects to support the world-wide effort to find better ways to treat and prevent COVID-19.
The Ottawa Hospital Foundation’s COVID-19 Emergency Response Fund is providing seed funding for a number of these projects, including a study led by Dr. Derek MacFadden that aims to use big data to find promising drugs for COVID-19.
Dr. Derek MacFadden and his colleagues plan to identify promising drugs to treat COVID-19 by analyzing past data from 3,000 Ontario patients treated for other kinds of coronavirus infections between 2014 and 2018. Once the team identifies which drugs are associated with the best patient outcomes, they will use the same process to see how effective those drugs have been at treating patients with COVID-19.
The drugs they identify in this screening process would then be tested in a lab to confirm their anti-viral activity against COVID-19. Drugs that pass this stage could potentially be used in future clinical trials for patients infected with or at risk of contracting COVID-19.
Unlike most lab-based drug screening approaches, this big data approach has the benefit of seeing how drugs work in humans infected with the virus, and what dose is needed to be effective.
“By looking at which drugs have been successful at treating past coronavirus infections, we can predict which ones are likely to work against COVID-19,” said Dr. Derek MacFadden, scientist at The Ottawa Hospital
Research team at The Ottawa Hospital/uOttawa: Drs. Derek MacFadden, Doug Manuel
Other team members: Nick Daneman (Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre), Kevin Brown (Public Health Ontario Laboratory)
Core Resources at The Ottawa Hospital: ICES
The Ottawa Hospital is a leading academic health, research and learning hospital proudly affiliated with the University of Ottawa.
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Ottawa Hospital Research Institute
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ambuchanan@ohri.ca
