Concord 19: The First Clinical Study Worldwide Starts in Chile to Stop Outbreaks of Covid-19

Seeking to help prevent the global spread of Covid-19, an innovative international clinical study called CONCORD-19 was launched. This study evaluates the effectiveness of a drug called Interferon in reducing people's contagious capacity with positive covid.

Researchers from Chile, Australia, and Canada hope this study will provide vital evidence to validate whether this treatment can reduce the spread of Covid-19 and help stop the pandemic.

Interferon is a protein that is naturally produced by the human body. It is known to strengthen the immune system and help the body fight infection. Also, interferons are very safe and have positive effects in clinical trials against other types of coronavirus, such as those that produce SARS and MERS.

Study in Chile and Recruitment

Our country participates in this important worldwide initiative through the UC School of Medicine. They will follow up with more than 300 families in Santiago who have a confirmed patient of Covid-19, hoping to reduce the rate of transmission of the virus within the household. Currently, there is an average of 1,700 cases per day in Chile.

The CONCORD-19 research team in Chile is made up of:

• José Antonio Castro-Rodríguez, a faculty member of the Division of Pediatrics of the Faculty of Medicine and researcher responsible for the study.
• Carolina Iturriaga, faculty member and director of Projects and Clinical Studies of the Laboratory of Immunology and Translational Allergy of the UC.
• Arturo Borzutzky, a faculty member of the Department of Infectious Diseases and Pediatric Immunology of the Faculty of Medicine. 
• Cecilia Perret, faculty member and head of the Pediatric Infectology Program.
• Diego García-Huidobro, a faculty member of the Department of Family Medicine.

According to the team, four months ago, they began the first steps to begin studies in Chile when they advanced the protocols required by the authorities.

"Once we have all the authorizations, we will be able to train the field team, composed of eight doctors and eight nurses, who will visit the patients and their household members in their homes. In the last month, we received the laboratory equipment from our intellectual partner, the Telethon Kids Institute of Australia, and the medicine (interferon-beta), from the Biogen laboratory from Germany," said Castro-Rodríguez.

According to the researcher in charge, "We should be enrolling the first families the last days of November. They will be contacted according to reports of positive PCR tests for Covid-19 from our UC-Christus Health Network and from the CESFAMs (Family Health Centers) of Puente Alto and Quinta Normal, which are our collaborators. We hope to expand to other municipalities in the coming months."

Participants in this research will be randomly assigned to receive treatment with interferon-beta 1a, provided by the Biogen laboratory. After receiving the drug injection, members of each participating household will be followed for thirty days. 

If you want to join as a participant, you must be between 18 and 80 years old and have a recent diagnosis of Covid-19. You can write to concord19@uc.cl and contact the research team.

According to Dr. Castro-Rodríguez, if the study results are positive, the drug could be used massively as soon as possible. 

"If the administration of interferon-beta at the onset of the Covid-19 infection is successful in reducing the spread of the virus in households and decreasing the risk of hospitalization, it could be used immediately in patients on a mass scale. The drug has been available for several years in many countries around the world," explained the UC faculty member.

Accompanying Participating Families 

The team of researchers has been collaborating for several years on various projects, according to UC faculty member Carolina Iturriaga. Together with Arturo Borzutzky, they founded the UC Laboratory of Immunology and Translational Allergy, consolidating over time their work together with a multidisciplinary scientific team of researchers. Later, and through other projects, the three faculty members got together and led this international study in Chile.

"We have been working since the start of the pandemic, and we will not rest until we can contribute with a grain of sand to the knowledge of this particular disease, which has changed our lives and the world," said Carolina Iturriaga.

"It will be an enriching and innovative experience from a scientific perspective, and above all, great support to the families affected by this disease. They will be accompanied by professionals who have a lot of experience treating patients with Covid-19, who we have selected with great dedication. The idea is to be a support for the participating families so they can fully trust us, regardless of the results that this research can provide," she said.

CONCORD-19 Worldwide

An exploratory study conducted in Wuhan, Hubei Province, China - the original epicenter of the current pandemic -, found that treatment with Interferon reduced the length of time a patient spreads the virus by approximately one week. The study by Eleanor Fish of the University Health Network and the University of Toronto and Professor Tobias Kollmann of the Telethon Kids Institute was the basis of the CONCORD-19 study.

Meanwhile, in Chile, the CONCORD-19 study is sponsored by the UC School of Medicine, and international coordination is led by the Telethon Kids Institute of Western Australia. It was made possible by a 1.87 million dollar donation from the BHP Life Resources Fund to the Telethon Kids Institute.