UAlbany, New York State Department of Health Partnering on COVID-19 Drug Trials 

The School of Public Health is partnering with the NYS Department of Health on COVID-19 drug trial studies.

ALBANY, N.Y. (April 2, 2020) – As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to grip the world and our own communities, students, faculty and staff from across the University are lending their expertise in many ways – including on potentially groundbreaking studies aimed at treating the virus.

The School of Public Health has been tapped to help with two state-led studies examining potential drug treatments for COVID-19 – a randomized controlled trial and an observational study. UAlbany will be NYSDOH’s lead academic partner on the observational study, while another leading university will be the academic partner on the randomized trial.

Dean David Holtgrave, who is on the research team along with faculty including Eli Rosenberg, Tomoko Udo and Janine Jurkowski, explains that work has begun in earnest on the study and “time is of the essence.”

”There is great interest currently on the possible side effects and effectiveness of using hydroxychloroquine, azithromycin, and cholorquine to treat COVID-19,” said Holtgrave. “The observational study is beginning at once and will track the impact of the use of these drugs as it naturally occurs in hospitals across the State; this will give us important, timely initial information while the randomized control trial is set up and conducted. We believe it is critical to pair the timeliness of the observational study with the rigor of the randomized controlled trial, and we are honored to be playing in key role in these evaluations with the State.”

For more than three decades, the School of Public Health has partnered with the New York State Department of Health (NYSDOH) on a variety of initiatives, and helping the department with the response for a health crisis of this magnitude is a natural fit.

Additionally, Holtgrave and others from the School of Public Health have lent their expertise to the media many times in recent weeks on other topics relating to COVID-19. Some highlights include:

• Healio: Social distancing ‘is all we have’ to prevent spread of COVID-19
• Policy Viz: Episode #170: DataViz in the Time of COVID
• Scary Mommy: Children with Disabilities and COVID-19: Don’t Forget About Us
• WNYT: Full interview with SPH dean on coronavirus prep
• WTEN: Officials: More COVID-19 testing will help in return to normalcy

Visit UAlbany’s COVID-19 website to learn more about the University’s response and other relevant information. 

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