From left, clinical research coordinator Kayce Singer, principal investigator Dr. Bobby Mocherla and clinical research coordinator Elissa Coambs pose for a photo at Las Vegas Medical Research Center Monday, July 19, 2021. Mocherla has been part of a National Institute of Health ongoing study to test the newest potential treatments for COVID-19 patients.
Friday, July 23, 2021 | 2 a.m.
A Las Vegas medical research group needs to see people sick with COVID-19 to test the newest potential treatments, especially in the surge of cases as new coronavirus variants emerge.
Dr. Bobby Mocherla has been part of the National Institute of Health’s ongoing ACTIV-2 study since September that studies investigational, or experimental, drugs. Some have gone on to receive authorization from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to treat COVID-19. Others have been discarded.
It’s an evolving process to find the right therapeutics that will work now and later — and what works today might not in a few months as mutations create new strains, he said.
“Each variant has a different molecular structure, so we’re trying to attack it right away by finding a compound that can actually effectively work on current variants and future variants,” said Mocherla, whose clinic is at Durango Drive and Sunset Road.
The clinic is working on about half a dozen drugs, or compounds, at any given time. Most of the drugs are monoclonal antibodies, or lab-made proteins that mimic the body’s natural defenses. Given as intravenous infusions in the early days of symptomatic COVID-19, these antibodies boost the antibodies the patients’ immune systems make to launch a strong enough attack on the disease to cut off its spread within the patient’s body.
“We’re trying to prevent these patients who are already sick from getting sicker and ending up in the hospital,” Mocherla said.
Monoclonal antibodies, which are Mocherla’s specialty as a researcher, are used for a range of other diseases, from asthma to cancer.
Monoclonal antibody therapy for COVID-19 had a high-profile patient in former President Donald Trump, who received a cocktail of antibodies manufactured by the pharmaceutical company Regeneron when he contracted the coronavirus in October.
To qualify for Mocherla’s study, a confirmed COVID-19 patient must be at least 18, symptomatic and have shown symptoms for seven or fewer days. The sooner a patient receives an infusion, the better the outcome.
The infusion is a one-time treatment, though Mocherla does regular follow-ups. Study participants can make between about $1,300 and $2,000 over a six-month study, with the funding covered by a federal grant, Mocherla said.
He especially encourages people with underlying conditions that put them at greater risk to sign up for a study if they catch the virus.
As of last week Mocherla had overseen about 350 patients who had received the experimental treatments, between his NIH-affiliate study and other projects working directly with pharmaceutical companies.
The call for study participants comes as Nevada establishes itself as a coronavirus hotspot.
State health department data earlier this week showed that Nevada was averaging 635 new cases a day and 811 people were hospitalized with confirmed COVID-19 cases. Both figures are more than four times what they were when Nevada dropped all pandemic mandates June 1.
In April and May, Mocherla had few participants. By the middle of this month, he had about 50.
His recent patients are trending younger and unvaccinated, but not exclusively, he said. Some cases are reinfections. Others are in previously inoculated people.Vaccines have been widely available for months, but they don’t fully protect everyone who is inoculated.
Last year, when studies started, treatments that have been shown to work weren’t yet available, and the death rate was higher. So there’s room for optimism, he said — but the pandemic, and Mocherla’s investigations, aren’t over.
“We need to continue to double up these antibodies to help people who get sick again,” he said. “Especially with the new variants, the level of antibodies differ, and our treatment’s idea is to find newer, better antibodies to counter the COVID disease.”
Mocherla said it was important for patients to enroll in studies now to help make the drugs of the future. Anyone who has a recent positive test result for COVID-19 and has had symptoms for seven days or fewer can call Mocherla’s office at (702) 750-0222 to join a study. People who suspect they have COVID-19 and still haven’t been tested can also call Mocherla’s office and arrange for a rapid test to confirm infection before signing up for a study.
