The fast-evolving coronavirus pandemic is posing unusual challenges in the search for drugs and vaccines, forcing researchers to rework or even scrap clinical trials as the science becomes outdated and lockdowns make study subjects harder to find.
Researchers in China this month had to shut down two studies they had hoped would examine a Gilead Sciences Inc. drug because they couldn’t find enough patients after the virus’s peak had passed. Meanwhile, researchers at Gilead and other places are opting to forgo standard tools such as a placebo arm in order to speed up trials, even though that might mean sacrificing rigor.
The most immediate challenge: finding patients before infections drop because of social restrictions. Lack of subjects plagued efforts to develop drugs and vaccines for previous viral outbreaks, such as Ebola in West Africa.
The two trials suspended in China were planning to test Gilead’s experimental drug remdesivir, which showed promise when used in mice. After establishing strict criteria for who could participate, the trials struggled to enroll enough patients before lockdown measures slowed the spread of the virus.
Government efforts to keep people at home and social distancing could make it more difficult to ensure vaccine-study subjects move around and get exposed to the virus enough to assess whether the experimental vaccine guards against infection or not, researchers say.
Plot twist: stay-at-home orders and social distancing could make it more difficult to ensure vaccine-study subjects move around and get exposed to the virus enough to assess whether an experimental vaccine guards against infection or not, researchers say. https://t.co/E0zbqaFIEh
— Josh Jamerson (@joshjame) April 28, 2020