MONTREAL, June 26, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Montreal Heart Institute today announced that the COLCORONA clinical trial will continue to recruit non-hospitalized adult patients with COVID-19 as recommended by the independent data monitoring committee (DMC), following a futility analysis.
“We are pleased to have achieved this important milestone and now await the final results of COLCORONA, to determine the effect of colchicine in preventing complications in non-hospitalized patients with COVID-19,” said Dr. Jean-Claude Tardif, Director of the Research Center at MHI, Professor of Medicine at the University of Montreal, and COLCORONA primary investigator. “We are committed to including large number of patients worldwide in this robust study to determine the effect of colchicine on the serious inflammatory storm seen with COVID-19, potentially keeping patients out of the hospital and ultimately saving lives.”
COLCORONA is a contact-free, at-home, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study run out of several regions in Canada, the United States, Europe, South America, and Africa. It aims to determine if colchicine may prevent the major inflammatory storm observed in adults suffering from serious complications linked to COVID-19. This is one of the few current studies of COVID-19 infection in which non-hospitalized individuals can participate. Patients and physicians interested in COLCORONA can call the hotline at 1-877-536-6837.
COLCORONA is coordinated by the Montreal Health Innovations Coordinating Center (MHICC) and funded by the Government of Quebec, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) of the United States National Institutes of Health (NIH). CGI and Pharmascience are also collaborators of COLCORONA.
The Montreal Heart Institute and its partners worldwide would like to thank all the patients and investigators for their continued participation in the COLCORONA study.
For more information about the study, visit www.colcorona.net.
About the Montreal Heart Institute
Founded in 1954, the Montreal Heart Institute constantly aims for the highest standards of excellence in the cardiovascular field through its leadership in clinical and basic research, ultra-specialized care, professional training, and prevention. It houses the largest research center in Canada, the largest cardiovascular prevention center in the country, and the largest cardiovascular genetics center in Canada. The Institute is affiliated with the University of Montreal and has more than 2000 employees, including 245 doctors and more than 85 researchers.
About the Montreal Health Innovations Coordinating Center (MHICC)
The Montreal Health Innovations Coordinating Center (MHICC) is a leading academic clinical research organization and an integral part of the Montreal Heart Institute (MHI). The MHICC possesses an established network of collaborators in over 4500 clinical sites in more than 40 countries. It has specific expertise in precision medicine, low-cost high-quality clinical trials, and drug repurposing.
About Pharmascience
Founded in 1983, Pharmascience Inc. is the largest pharmaceutical employer in Quebec. With its head office located in Montreal and its 1,500 employees, Pharmascience Inc. is a private, full-service pharmaceutical company with deep roots in Canada, and whose global reach is growing, in part thanks to the distribution of its products in more than 60 countries. Ranked 56th among the top 100 Canadian investors in research and development (R&D) thanks to $ 43 million investment in 2018, Pharmascience Inc. is the 4th largest manufacturer of over-the-counter generic drugs in the country. www.pharmascience.com
About CGI
Founded in 1976, CGI is one of the world's largest information technology (IT) and management consulting firms. From hundreds of locations around the world, CGI offers a complete portfolio of services and solutions: strategic IT and management consulting services, systems integration services, intellectual property solutions as well as IT and business process management services in delegated mode. www.cgi.com/canada
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