MONTREAL — The Montreal Heart Institute (MHI) Research Center today announced that, through its association with NYU Langone, its clinical study on COVID-19 has received funding from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), one of the world’s foremost medical research centers. ColCorona is one of the few contact-free current studies of treatment of COVID-19 infection in which non-hospitalized individuals can participate from their homes.

ColCorona was initiated at MHI by Dr. Jean-Claude Tardif, director of the MHI Research Center and professor of medicine at the University of Montreal. It aims to determine whether colchicine has a preventive effect on the phenomenon of “major inflammatory storm” of the lungs, observed in adults suffering from serious complications linked to COVID-19. Researchers hypothesize that this drug used to treat gout may reduce the severe inflammatory complications associated with COVID-19, slow the progression of the disease, and save lives. Several sites in Canada, the United-States and Spain are participating in the clinical study.

“The support of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute comes at a critical time”, said Dr. Jean-Claude Tardif. “Time is of the essence to find an effective treatment for COVID-19 and the support from the NIH will allow us to accelerate our research efforts to confirm the potential of colchicine.”

“I would like to thank the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute for its contribution to our study”, said Dr. Binita Shah, Associate Director of Research, NYU Langone Cardiac Cath Lab at NYU Langone. “This support will allow us to deploy the necessary resources to make this potential treatment accessible to the greatest number of patients with COVID-19 in the New York City, and tri-state region, which is strongly affected by the pandemic.”

The participant eligibility criteria for the study is as follows:
• Test positive for COVID-19 (or clinically diagnosed for Quebec and New York City tri-state regions)
• Be 40 years and over and have at least one high-risk criteria
• Not hospitalized
• Be willing to take the drug or placebo daily for 30 days
• Be willing to participate in two follow-up calls by phone or videoconference.

Women who do not take contraceptives, those who are pregnant or those who are breastfeeding are not eligible for the clinical study. Physicians with patients, or people with a positive COVID-19 diagnosis who are interested in participating in the clinical study can call the hotline at any time at 1-877-536-6837.