a hand holding a card: COVID-19: Kenya begins clinical trial as race to find cure gathers momentum

    EASTLEIGH, NAIROBI, KENYA - 2020/05/11: A police officer warns residents in Eastleigh during the protest. Eastleigh Residents took to the street to protest restriction of movement in the area due to the widespread case of Covid-19 within the residential area and appealed to the government to provide them with relief food. Kenya has confirmed 672 cases of Covid-19 and 32 deaths. (Photo by Billy Mutai/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)EASTLEIGH, NAIROBI, KENYA - 2020/05/11: Police officers patrol the streets of Eastleigh during the demonstration. Eastleigh Residents took to the street to protest restriction of movement in the area due to the widespread case of Covid-19 within the residential area and appealed to the government to provide them with relief food. Kenya has confirmed 672 cases of Covid-19 and 32 deaths. (Photo by Billy Mutai/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)

    Kenya is among African countries that have started clinical trials for a drug that could be the cure for COVID-19 that has caused thousands of deaths globally in addition to an economic shutdown.

    In a study directly approved by the Ministry of health, global biotech giant Roche Pharmaceuticals will begin clinical trials of Actemra (tocilizumab) in Kenya.

    A report The Standard on Tuesday, July 21, indicated ten patients have since been enrolled at the Clinical Research Unit of the Aga Khan University Hospital, Nairobi.

    “Our people are working day and night with the aim of developing, manufacturing and supplying key tests and medicines where they are needed most,’ said Beatrice Nyawira, Medical Director, Roche Kenya Ltd.

    Genentech, a subsidiary of the Roche Group, in the United States (US) is reported to have initiated the treatment with trials aimed at South Africa, Kenya, Brazil, Mexico and Peru.

    “We are so glad to see Kenyan patients on the EMPACTA trial. Disparities and lack of diversity in medical research hold the global community back, and Roche Kenya is proud to help close this gap.” she added.

    The study whose results are expected in three months’ time will evaluate the efficacy and safety of Roche’s medicine Actemra in the treatment of COVID-19 associated pneumonia in hospitalised patients.

    It was initiated by Genentech, a member of the Roche Group, in the United States in May 2020.

    The medicine is expected to work on the body’s immune system to prevent pneumonia that has been a characteristic of patients infected with COVID-19.

    COVID-19 patients who had pneumonia and are in need of oxygen will be eligible to participate.

    “This is a watershed moment for Kenya and us at the Aga Khan University Hospital, that we can participate in an international clinical trial,” said Reena Shah.

    Shah is the Associate Professor of Medicine in Infectious Diseases and the Principal Investigator of the study in Kenya.

    “This is where we contribute knowledge and experience about our capability and the outcome of our patients to the international community,” she added.

    Recent findings by clinical researchers at the University of Michigan demonstrated that in a controlled study of 154 patients with severe COVID-19 illness requiring ventilation, Actemra (tocilizumab) was associated with a 45% reduction in deaths.