Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare and OneFlorida Clinical Research Consortium to Evaluate Blood Thinners as COVID-19 Treatment
January 7, 2021Categories: COVID-19
A research team at Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare (TMH) has joined a national study to see if blood thinners can help prevent life-threatening blood clots from forming in the bloodstreams of people who have tested positive for COVID-19 and who do not require hospitalization.
According to the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI), which is overseeing the study, researchers have found that many patients who died from COVID-19 had formed blood clots throughout their bodies. Blood clots that form in the blood vessels can travel through the bloodstream to other parts of the body and trigger heart attacks, strokes, pulmonary embolisms (blood clots in the lungs) and other life-threatening problems.
Blood thinners, also known as antithrombotics or anticoagulants, help prevent blood clots from forming. These drugs have been used for many years to help prevent heart attacks and strokes in older adults who have been diagnosed with heart and blood vessel diseases.
The University of Florida and the OneFlorida Clinical Research Consortium are coordinating recruiting efforts in Florida with several of OneFlorida’s consortium partners, including TMH.
“At Tallahassee Memorial, we’re on the forefront of advancing care,” shared Claudia Kroker-Bode, MD, PhD, Program Director of the Florida State University Internal Medicine Residency Program at TMH. Dr. Kroker-Bode is the TMH site principal investigator for the ACTIV-4 Outpatient trial. “We’re proud to be participating and have our expert clinical research team working side-by-side with the nation’s top hospitals to find an effective treatment for COVID-19 patients.
The OneFlorida Clinical Research Consortium is a statewide research network and data trust that includes 12 academic centers and health systems across Florida. OneFlorida’s network of 22 hospitals, 1,240 practices/clinics and 4,100 providers care for about 74 percent of Floridians in all 67 counties. OneFlorida is also one of nine clinical research networks nationwide participating in PCORnet, the national patient-centered clinical research network.
The NHLBI’s ACTIV-4 Antithrombotics Outpatient study, which is funded through the White House’s Operation Warp Speed initiative, is currently recruiting 7,000 participants at more than 100 sites worldwide to test the safety and effectiveness of blood thinners as a treatment for COVID-19.
Adults 40 and older who are COVID-19 positive in the Big Bend region who are interested in participating in the study should contact the TMH Office of Research at CovidResearch@TMH.ORG. For questions or more information, please visit TMH.ORG/Coronavirus.
