NIH Launches Late-Stage Trials of Blood Thinners for COVID-19

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) launched two phase 3 trials yesterday, evaluating different types of blood thinners to treat COVID-19 patients.

The trials aim to find when in the course of the disease blood thinners might be effective for COVID-19 patients. The two studies will be conducted at more than 100 sites around the world and will be overseen by the NIH’s National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI).

One study will test a low and high dose of heparin for preventing clotting and improving outcomes in hospitalized COVID-19 patients. Depending on how the trial progresses, additional anti-thrombotic agents may be tested.

The second study will test whether blood thinners can reduce cardiovascular or pulmonary complications in newly diagnosed COVID-19 patients who are not hospitalized. Patients will either receive a placebo, aspirin, or a low or therapeutic dose of apixaban. Pfizer and Bristol Myers Squibb have agreed to donate the treatments for the study.

A third trial, which has not begun, will evaluate blood thinners in patients who have been discharged after being hospitalized for moderate to severe COVID-19.

The trials are being conducted under the Accelerating COVID-19 Therapeutic Interventions and Vaccines (ACTIV) initiative, a public-private partnership launched in April aimed at expediting COVID-19 vaccines and treatments. Two trials of Eli Lilly’s monoclonal antibody LY-CoV555 are currently being conducted under the ACTIV partnership (DID, Aug. 5). — Jordan Williams