PROJECT SUMMARY
Tracking COVID-19 Drug Candidates Rex Walrond's research assistant project at Romark Laboratories, summer 2021.
rexwalrond.com
Project Summary
The problem By the summer of 2021, dozens of existing and experimental drugs were being tested against COVID-19, and new trial results arrived every week. For a research team, the hard part was no longer finding information. It was keeping it organized well enough to compare candidates fairly.
What Rex Walrond built As a research assistant at Romark Laboratories, Rex Walrond built Excel dashboards tracking more than 25 COVID-19 drug candidates. Each candidate was logged by: Efficacy: what the available results showed. Trial phase: how far through clinical testing it had progressed. Mechanism of action: how it was thought to work against the virus. Keeping all three side by side made it easier to see which candidates had both a plausible mechanism and maturing evidence.
The niclosamide review Walrond also synthesized more than 400 articles and multi-drug datasets on niclosamide, a long-established drug that laboratory studies had flagged for possible antiviral activity, to help evaluate its potential against COVID-19.
Takeaways Good tracking is a research tool in its own right: a clear structure surfaces patterns faster than reading alone. Promising lab results and proven clinical benefit are different things, and the gap between them is where careful review matters most. Fast-moving evidence needs version control. The dashboard was only useful if it stayed current. Read more about Rex Walrond's background at rexwalrond.com and theodorewalrond.com.
rexwalrond.com
Romark Project Summary · 2