Investigators: Alka Saxena, Angela Fuery, Anne McKenzie, Anthony Bosco, Anthony Kicic, Belinda Frank, Chris Blyth, David Martino, Elizabeth Kicic-Starcevich, Erika Sutanto, Ingrid Laing, Kevin Looi, Luke Garratt, Nat Eiffler, Patricia Agudelo Romero, Samuel Montgomery, Shannon Simpson, Thomas Iosifidis, Yuliya Karpievitch
With no identified treatment pipeline for COVID-19, the quickest approach involves repurposing available compounds, whose safety profile in humans has been established. The CRITICAL STUDY is aimed at identifying COVID-19 in ‘at risk’ populations and which available drugs prevent/ reduce disease severity in them.
Using a systematic approach we will firstly assess how airways respond to SARS-CoV-2 infection and identify individuals who are more at risk to its effects across a spectrum of both paediatric (healthy children, those with allergies and asthma or cystic fibrosis, preschool kids who wheeze as a result of viral infections, preterm birth survivors) and adult populations (healthy, asthmatic, current and ex-smokers, those with cystic fibrosis, those suffering chronic obstructive pulmonary discords (COPD)). Secondly, we will implement a screening pipeline to identify commercially available compounds with favourable safety profiles, that can reduce the harmful effects of infection, which rationale their assessment as part of a clinical trial.
Collaborators:
- Prof Peter Wark (University of Newcastle)
- Eugene Roscioli (University of Adelaide)