POTSDAM -- The Clinical and Rural Health Research Department with St. Lawrence Health System will be part of the ACTIV-2 portion of Operation Warp Speed COVID-19 clinical trials. They’ve also recently been selected to take part in the ACTIV-1 IM segment.

Accelerating COVID-19 Therapeutic Interventions and Vaccines (ACTIV) is a National Institutes of Health initiative with funding support from Operation Warp Speed. ACTIV is a public-private partnership that was created to develop a coordinated research strategy for prioritizing and speeding development of the most promising treatments and vaccines, said SLHS, who runs hospitals in Potsdam, Massena and Gouverneur.

The SLHS Clinical Research Department’s role in Operation Warp Speed is now two-fold: the ACTIV-1 IM segment is offered to inpatients who have COVID-19, and the ACTIV-2 portion is available for outpatients with COVID-19, SLHS said.

“The growth and development of the Clinical and Rural Health Research Department over the past several years has prepared us to successfully bring COVID-19 trials to the North County. We are one of 60 sites across the nation selected to participate in the ACTIV-1 IM inpatient COVID-19 trial, and of these, one of approximately seven sites representing a rural population,” Clinical Research Director Carly Lovelett said in a news release. “This trial is particularly important right now as our region faces the worst spike of positive cases and hospitalizations since the onset of the pandemic.”

Eligible patients who consent to participate in the ACTIV-1 IM trial are provided access to Remdesivir as standard care, and are then randomized to receive one of three investigational treatments for COVID-19, or a placebo.

Through the Research Department’s ongoing participation in the ACTIV-2 outpatient clinical trial, they hope to prevent hospitalization of COVID-positive patients. However, their participation in ACTIV-1 IM offers those who do end up in the hospital with treatment options that would otherwise be unavailable, as well as the opportunity to contribute to the worldwide scientific fight against the virus.

The clinical trial Principal Investigator is Rheumatologist Eyal Kedar, MD; and the Sub-Investigators are Infectious Diseases providers Daniel Soule, DO; and Kylie Broughal, PA-C; and Hospitalist Sara Mohaddes, PA-C.

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