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August 12,2021

Andrew Campbell 

The World Health Organization (WHO) announced the next phase of its Solidarity trial, Solidarity PLUS, in an August 11 news release, which will enroll hospitalized patients in order to test three new drugs in COVID-19 patients.

These drugs, artesunate, imatinib, and infliximab, were donated for the trial in 52 countries as part of the Solidarity PLUS program. These therapies were chosen by an independent expert panel for their potential to reduce the risk of death in COVID-19 hospitalized patients. They are already used for specific purposes: artesunate, manufactured by Ipca, is used to treat severe malaria, imatinib, manufactured by Novartis, is used to treat certain cancers, and infliximab, manufactured by Johnson and Johnson, is used to treat immune system diseases such as Crohn's disease and rheumatoid arthritis.

Solidarity PLUS is the largest global collaboration involving thousands of researchers from over 600 hospitals among WHO's 194 member countries. Researchers from all over the world can contribute their expertise and resources to global COVID-19 research through the Solidarity PLUS trial. Previously, four drugs were evaluated in the 2020 trial. Remdesivir, hydroxychloroquine, lopinavir, and interferon had little or no effect on COVID-19 hospitalized patients, according to the findings.

Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of WHO, expresses gratitude to the participating governments, pharmaceutical companies, hospitals, clinicians, and patients for coming together in true global solidarity.