On Friday, Mexico City’s Health Ministry began the process to select 360 patients with COVID-19 that will participate in the clinical trials for the drugs Camostat Mesylate and Artemisia Annua at the Tlalpan, Tláhuac, Iztapalapa, and Iztacalco boroughs.
Health Minister Oliva López Arellano said that clinical ethics and bioethics will be respected at all times and that the patients that participate in the study will do so consciously and with information.
“They are being invited because we must convince each person, they must be willing to participate. Hence, [the process] is begun right now both in Health Centers and Hospitals by inviting people who fulfill the requirements, who are older than 18 years of age with some underlying condition, who are willing to participate, who accept with informed consent, and who are explained about the benefits and possible risks,” she added.
She said that the selection process consists of performing laboratory tests, taking samples while patients are in the first days of showing COVID-19 symptoms.
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The health officer reminded that the clinical trials have the objective of preventing serious conditions of the disease as well as the hospitalization of outpatients with comorbidities. She said Camostat Mesylate and Artemisia Annua are being used in other countries to treat diseases and that it has been proven that one of these drugs could unleash gastrointestinal issues but there is no evidence of worse side effects.
Mexico City’s mayor Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo said that the clinical trials will be done under the coordination of the Salvador Zubirán National Institute of Medical Sciences and Nutrition (INCMNSZ) and the Health Ministry (SEDESA), along with the Ministry of Education, Science, Technology and Innovation (SECTEI).
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