In April, 2020 the National Institutes of Health (NIH) announced Accelerating COVID-19 Therapeutic Interventions and Vaccines (ACTIV)public-private partnership to develop a coordinated research strategy for prioritizing and speeding development of the most promising treatments and vaccines. You’ve no doubt heard about the vaccine to help prevent COVID-19 infections, but there is also a need to find effective treatments for people with COVID-19. In this series you’ll hear first hand from an infectious disease specialist, a community advisor and a clinical trial participant about the need to diversify the study to help save lives.
I’m sharing this information with you because you may have heard about clinical trials to find safe and effective medications to treat people with COVID but don’t trust the system. I had an opportunity to speak with representatives from Rise Above COVID about the Activ-2 clinical trial and study, I asked every question that I thought you might want the answer to regarding the study. I spoke with an infectious disease specialist, a community advisor and a clinical trial participant about the need to diversify the study to help save lives. The vaccine’s are important and will hopefully reduce the spread of COVID-19 but people are still being infected, hospitalized and dying. Our communities are hesitant to participate in clinical trials but we are disproportionately affected by COVID-19. Without effective treatments more people could die from this virus.
Dr. Lance Okeke, infectious disease specialist and COVID-19 site principal investigator for the ACTIV-2 clinical trial at Duke University talks about historical mistrust of clinical trials among Black communities, about the clinical trial and who’s eligible to participate in the study.
Tony Wafford is the President and CEO of the I Choose Life Health and Wellness Center and Rise Above Covid Community Advisory Board member. Tony lost 5 family members to COVID-19. We talk about the racial inequities and the impact on Black communities, and the ACTIV-2 treatment study clinical trial that is testing different investigational medicines to determine if they are safe and can help adults with COVID-19 get better.
Mike McDaniel is an ACTIV-2 treatment study clinical trial participant, he shares his personal experience in the ACTIV-2 treatment study clinical trial and why he feels it’s important to consider volunteering to diversify the study. His entire family tested positive for COVID-19.
ACTIV-2 is sponsored by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (part of the National Institutes of Health) with support from Operation Warp Speed For more information about the ACTIV-2 treatment study clinical trial visit riseabovecovid.org
