A Great Plains Health (GPH) COVID-19 patient on a ventilator for 10 days said a trial drug helped her breathe better.
In her letter to The North Platte Telegraph, Roni Melton recalled she was rushed to the hospital’s emergency room on Nov. 1 and was put on a ventilator as her oxygen level dropped to 65.
“The outlook wasn’t very good,” she said.
She is thankful she was administered with Aviptadil. After being on a ventilator for 10 days, she was out of the hospital on Nov. 16 after being treated with the drug.
Aviptadil, also known as Zyesami, is a drug from NeuroRx which is currently undergoing clinical trials and is available under FDA-approved protocol - The Expanded Access program.
“Then Dr. Eduardo Freitas got ahold of my husband and wanted to know if we wanted to try the new experimental drug aviptadil. Thank God he said yes!” Melton added.
On Tuesday, the manufacturer has announced promising results shown by preliminary data, and if "authorized for use, would be the first drug indicated specifically for COVID-19 patients who are critically ill with respiratory failure," PR Newswire stated.
"We are greatly encouraged by these preliminary findings and believe they are indicative of a biologic effect of aviptadil in hastening recovery from Critical COVID-19,” Dr. Jonathan Javitt, CEO of NeuroRx, said. “We expect to discuss with the Food and Drug Administration and other regulatory authorities the submission of an Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) so that Zyesami can be available for treating this population that is at immediate risk of death and for which there is no approved therapy."
