DURHAM, N.C. — More than 800 health care workers have enrolled in a study based at Duke University to determine whether the antimalarial drug hydroxychloroquine can help ward off COVID-19, and organizers are looking for more volunteers.
Participants in the clinical trial are drawn from a pool of people who have enrolled in The Healthcare Worker Exposure Response and Outcomes (HERO) Registry. Also based at Duke, The HERO Registry includes more than 13,600 health care workers in all 50 states, including more than 1,000 in North Carolina.
The registry was created in March as a place where health care workers could share information and their experiences from the front lines of the coronavirus outbreak. Members are also given the opportunity to take part in clinical trials, which this summer will likely include studies of some of the first vaccines against coronavirus, said Dr. Adrian Hernandez, lead investigator of the HERO research program and head of the Duke Clinical Research Institute where the registry is based.
Hernandez said health care workers are motivated to help find new ways to treat or prevent COVID-19.
“They are personally worried about their own health,” he said. “But what has really hit them is they’re really worried about their families and protecting their families.”
So far, the only study drawing volunteers from the HERO Registry involves hydroxychloroquine or HCQ, which is used to treat malaria and autoimmune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis and lupus.
The drug has received lots of attention from the public and the media after President Donald Trump endorsed it as a way to prevent coronavirus infection, then disclosed last month that he was taking it for that reason. The Food and Drug Administration has cautioned against using HCQ to treat COVID-19 unless administered in a hospital or as part of a clinical trial because of a risk of heart rhythm problems.
Interest in hydroxychloroquine has spawned dozens of clinical trials to test the drug alone or in combination with other medications, including the antibiotic azithromycin. While most trials are still underway, researchers in the United Kingdom announced Friday that they were halting a study involving nearly 4,700 people after their early results showed hydroxychloroquine provided no benefit.
Participants in the HERO Registry’s study must enroll at one of 40 sites around the country, including Duke, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Wake Forest Baptist Health in Winston-Salem. They are given either hydroxychloroquine or a placebo for 30 days and complete online surveys about their health, mood and potential exposure to coronavirus. They’re also tested for COVID-19 before and after the trial.
The study, like the registry itself, is open to all sorts of people who work in health care. That includes doctors, nurses, therapists and paramedics but also people who transport patients, prepare and serve food or clean rooms in hospitals, clinics and nursing homes.
“We’re asking all people who serve in all types of healthcare settings to join,” Bridget Thomas, who manages the HERO-HCQ trial at Wake Forest, said in a statement. “We’re seeking health care workers from all environments — including hospitals, outpatient and urgent care clinics, nursing homes and in-home nursing care — to join the HERO community.”
Organizers of the hydroxychloroquine trial had at one point hoped to enroll 15,000 workers. Hernandez said they may not need that many to get effective results and said they continue to look for volunteers. To enroll in the HERO Registry and get more information about the hydroxychloroquine trial, go to heroesresearch.org/.
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