06.04.2020

Ole Schmeltz Søgaard, MD at Department of Infectious Diseases at Aarhus University Hospital and associate professor at Department of Clinical Medicine at Aarhus University. Photo: Tonny Foghmar

The Japanese drug camostat mesylate has now arrived in Denmark and the first patient at Aarhus University Hospital is now testing the effect of the drug against COVID-19.

Just one week ago, researchers at Aarhus University Hospital and Aarhus University received DKK 5 million from the Lundbeck Foundation to test if a new Japanese drug against heartburn – camostat mesylate – is useful to treat the new coronavirus (COVID-19).

- We have received the test drug from Japan and are ready to start using it for treatment, says Ole Schmeltz Søgaard, MD at Department of Infectious Diseases at Aarhus University Hospital and associate professor at Department of Clinical Medicine at Aarhus University.

- This Saturday the first patient at Aarhus University Hospital started treatment with the drug, which will be given to selected hospitalised patients with COVID-19.

Excited about the result

The drug will be tested in a blinded trial and patients, staff and researchers will not know if a patient receives the active drug or an inactive drug (placebo). When either the active or the placebo drug has been given to 180 patients, researchers analyse if one group has a milder course of COVID-19 or is hospitalised for at shorter period of time than the other group of patients.

- We are of course very excited to see if the drug is efficient against COVID-19, says Mads Fuglsang Kjølby, MD at Department of Clinical Pharmacology at Aarhus University Hospital and associate professor at Department of Biomedicine at Aarhus University.

- In March, a German study tested if camostat mesylate could block COVID-19 in cells. Denmark is the first country in the world to systematically test the effect of the drug in human beings with COVID-19.

Camostat mesylate was launched at the Japanese market in 1986. The drug is used to treat heartburn and pancreatic inflammation.

FACTS about the research project with camostat mesylate:

• The 180 Danish patients with COVID-19 will participate in the trial voluntarily. The patients come from all of the five Danish regions
• Paients are offered to participate when admitted to hospital with a positive test for the new coronavirus
• Participants are informed that they participate in a randomised trial; one third will get an inactive drug (placebo) and two-thirds will get the active drug (camostat mesylate)
• Neither doctors nor patients will know if they get the active drug or placebo
• Patients will get two tablets three times a day for five days and are followed up for one month
• In 3-4 months the researchers will be able to see if the drug results in a milder course of COVID-19 by comparing the two groups of patients
• When data from 180 patients can be analysed, it will be revealed to the doctors which patients received the active drug or placebo, respectively. At this point, it will be possible to determine if the drug is effective.

Further information:

Mads Fuglsang Kjølby, MD, Department of Clinical Pharmacology, Aarhus University Hospital and associate professor at Department of Biomedicine, Aarhus University. Tel.:+45 60 86 66 53, e-mail: mads@dandrite.au.dk

Ole Schmeltz Søgaard, MD, Department of Infectious Diseases, Aarhus University Hospital and associate professor at Department of Clinical Medicine, Aarhus University. Tel.: +45 24 99 49 62, e-mail: olesoega@rm.dk