Innovations in care

Innovations in care. Treating patients

with COVID-19.

At Huntington Hospital, we continuously pursue improvements that positively impact patient outcomes. Our donors help make this possible. One of these generous community residents is Carole Greene, who recently established the Carole and Warren Greene Endowment for Medical Innovation here. Funds generated through the endowment will advance medical knowledge and strengthen care into the future. In 2020, endowment funds helped to identify the best therapies for patients hospitalized with COVID-19.

Remdesivir.

Thanks to philanthropic contributions from friends like Carole, Huntington Hospital was able to participate in the U.S. Department of Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) Expanded Access Program for remdesivir. With oversight from our infectious disease specialists, patients with COVID-19 who met specific clinical criteria received a 10-day course of the medication. Patient consent was required.

Expanded access, sometimes called “compassionate use,” allows patients with an immediately life-threatening or serious condition to gain access to a medical product or protocol that is still under investigation by the FDA. Though not part of a traditional clinical trial, expanded access can provide important information that advances the field. In the case of remdesivir, we reported results to the drug manufacturer for consolidation and reporting to the FDA. Our work played an important role in evaluating this therapy’s efficacy in treating patients with COVID-19.

Convalescent plasma.

When a patient has recovered from a viral disease such as COVID-19, their blood may contain helpful antibodies — attack mechanisms that target the virus and destroy it. This year, we have participated in an Expanded Access Program to provide blood products (known as convalescent plasma) from recovered patients, in order to treat patients hospitalized with a serious or life-threatening coronavirus infection.

Based on the best available information by our publication date, treatment with convalescent plasma may be helpful in some cases, and the protocol was recently approved under the FDA’s Emergency Use Authorization. This authorization will help provide even more patients with access to this potentially lifesaving treatment.

We extend many sincere thanks to donors like Carole, who are helping us to deliver potentially helpful investigational therapies to patients who can benefit from them — and to increase global understanding of these therapies’ potential to save lives.