Israel is among the first countries in the world to participate in a new clinical study to test a possible cure for the coronavirus.
On Monday, a 64-year-old woman in moderate condition, who is currently hospitalized in the coronavirus wing at Sheba Medical Center in Beersheba, became the first person in Israel to receive the rheumatoid arthritis drug, Kevzara, to help treat the symptoms associated with the virus.
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There are currently very limited treatments available for coronavirus patients and all of them are experimental and unproven.
Israel was chosen as one of eight countries in the world to host the clinical research, which will span over a period of around two months and comprise 40 coronavirus patients in Israel and around 300 across the globe. The participants will receive the treatment at Sheba Medical Center, Assuta Medical Center in Ashdod and Hadassah Ein Kerem Hospital in Jerusalem.
It will mark the first clinical research study in Israel to help find an effective treatment for the coronavirus.
The purpose of the research is to examine the safety of the drug in a controlled environment. Thus far, coronavirus patients in Israel in critical condition have received experimental drugs within the framework of "compassion treatment" (drugs that aren't specifically designed to treat the disease), making it impossible to know which drug, if any, was actually impactful in improving their condition.
French company Sanofi, which manufactures Kevzara, decided to test the drug after patients in China receive a similar drug, not with the framework of clinical tests, and responded to it positively.
