[Photo by Fusion Medical Animation on Unsplash]
The NIH announced today that it has launched the last of three Phase 3 clinical trials to evaluate the safety and effectiveness of blood thinners to prevent life-threatening blood clots in adults diagnosed with COVID-19.
As part of the Accelerating COVID-19 Therapeutic Interventions and Vaccines (ACTIV) initiative, the trial will study the use of Bristol Myers Squibb/Pfizer’s Eliquis blood thinner in patients discharged from the hospital following a case of moderate-to-severe COVID-19. The other two ACTIV studies already underway involve hospitalized COVID-19 patients and people with COVID-19 who have not been hospitalized.
The trials are taking place at more than 100 sites worldwide.
Researchers noticed early in the COVID-19 pandemic that many people who died has blood clots throughout their bodies — clotting that can cause multiple health complications ranging from organ damage to heart attack. The ACTIV-4 trials are meant to answer critical questions about properly use blood thinners or anticoagulants to treat COVID-19 cases.