Dr. Jim Russell, a Principal Investigator at the HLI, has recently been awarded $3.5 million in federal funding to start a clinical trial for COVID-19. This multi-site trial, involving several sites across Canada, will evaluate the effectiveness of Losartan in reducing morbidity and mortality in patients hospitalized with COVID-19. Losartan is a drug that is normally prescribed for high blood pressure and other cardiovascular diseases. This class of drugs has been shown to reduce lung injury in influenza (flu), which is caused by a virus that uses similar mechanisms as SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19.
This trial is the next step for Dr. Russell’s observational study that was also funded by CIHR’s initial investment for COVID-19 in March 2020.
Read more about this study: http://thedailyscan.providencehealthcare.org/2020/06/st-pauls-hospital-researcher-receives-3-5-million-for-covid-19-drug-trial/