UF Health Enrolls First Patient in Clinical Trial Aimed at Creating New Treatment for COVID-19

University of Florida Health has enrolled its first patient in a clinical trial for Regeneron Pharmaceuticals’ monoclonal antibody cocktail to treat COVID-19, a therapy that might neutralize the coronavirus and prevent it from infecting cells.

UF Health is one of the hundreds of medical centers internationally participating in the blinded, placebo-controlled, randomized clinical trial to determine if these synthetic antibodies can lessen the severity of coronavirus infection, shorten hospitalizations and reduce mortality.

Mark L. Brantly, M.D., principal investigator of the trial at UF Health, said researchers also are attempting to calibrate the most effective dosage for patients.

Brantly said researchers across UF Health are working furiously to find treatments for COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus. They are all too mindful of the lives lost to the disease.

“It’s just heartbreaking to see this happen to our family members and our friends,” said Brantly, a professor in the UF College of Medicine’s division of pulmonary, critical care and sleep medicine and the department of molecular genetics and microbiology. “We’re doing everything we can to find useful treatments.”

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