Willis-Knighton Health System is seeking participants to be part of a clinical research study to determine whether a medicine taken by mouth will prevent COVID-19 illness in people who are household contacts of a patient recently diagnosed with symptomatic COVID-19.  The health system is one of 400 sites in the United States involved in the study.

“We are studying this antiviral medication to find out whether it can protect people exposed to COVID-19 from getting infected,” said Joseph Bocchini, MD. “This medication is now available through Emergency Use Authorization for persons with high-risk conditions who are infected with COVID-19 because it was shown in clinical trials to reduce COVID-19 related hospitalizations and deaths in these patients by approximately 90 percent.” Dr. Bocchini is principal investigator for the study.

People who qualify to participate must be age 18 or older, have no current symptoms of COVID-19 and reside in the same household as someone with symptoms of COVID-19 infection who was recently diagnosed with the virus,” says Carrie Kay, RN, CCRC, Willis-Knighton Health System clinical research director.

Patients who have had COVID-19, have liver or kidney disease, cancer or any other current infection are not eligible, she says.

Participants will be randomly assigned to receive the drug or placebo by mouth twice each day for five or 10 days. Research visits will be conducted by healthcare professionals free of charge at the WK COVID Research Center. In addition, participants will be monitored at home and tested throughout the study.

There is no charge to the participant or insurance for visits, medication, or monitoring. Instead, each patient will receive a small stipend for the time and travel involved for his or her participation.

To learn more about this study and eligibility requirements, call Carrie Kay at (318) 455-7290 or go to https://www.wkhs.com/clinical-trials/ and click on COVID.