SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem says they are going on the offense when it comes to fighting the novel coronavirus.
At Sanford Health in Sioux Falls Monday, the governor reported that South Dakota would begin clinical trials using Hydroxycholoroquine – a drug used to fight arthritis and malaria.
“It will be used to fight COVID-19 and this team with me, Sanford Health, has helped lead this effort. Throughout the last week, I have been in direct contact with Vice-President Mike Pence and others with his team on making sure they knew what we wanted to do here in South Dakota, and all our health partners were on board, including Sanford, Avera and Monument.”
The controlled study will initially include 2,000 outpatient individuals exposed to COVID-19, including frontline healthcare workers and other high-risk patients.
Dr Allison Suttle is Sanford’s Chief Medical officer.. “We know this has the potential to work and we are learning that it prevents the virus from entering the cell. That prevents the virus from then spreading. The only way a virus works is that it can infect one person and then another person and then another person. So if we prevent the virus from entering the human cell, we can prevent the virus from spreading. We also think the Hydroxychloroquine might work by preventing imflammatory response.”
Dr. Suttle says there are no drugs or therapeutics approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to prevent or treat COVID-19.
Current clinical management includes infection prevention and supportive care.
Suttle says hydroxychloroquine is one of the therapeutics that is under investigation in clinical trials for treatment of patients with mild, moderate and severe COVID-19.
“What we hope to do today, by having these clinical trials, by offering this medication to all of those who might be impacted by COVID-19, is to really provide a treatment. To providte hope. To increase the information we know about medication and to learn what works. This virus will be with us for awhile, and if we can learn today what works and what doesn’t, then we will have a treatment in the future.
She says Sanford currently has clinical guidelines in place to prescribe hydroxychloroquine to hospitalized COVID-19 positive patients.
