Evidence map›Paper›PMID 35733167›Full record

ArticleTrials2022

Drugs and convalescent plasma therapy for COVID-19: a survey of the interventional clinical studies in Italy after 1 year of pandemic.

Maria Puopolo, Cristina Morciano, Maria Buoncervello, Chiara De Nuccio, Rosa Luisa Potenza, Elena Toschi, Lucia Palmisano

Open access · goldAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Trials, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
0citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact, top 92% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

0 citing papers in PubMed, 0 citations in OpenAlex.

No citing paper in PubMed yet.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

7 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.

Maria PuopoloDepartment of Neuroscience, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Rome, Italy.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0001-5410-2334
Cristina MorcianoResearch Coordination and Support Service, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Rome, Italy.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0001-5300-9605
Maria BuoncervelloResearch Coordination and Support Service, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Rome, Italy.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-0028-4328
Chiara De NuccioResearch Coordination and Support Service, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Rome, Italy.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-1022-0819
Rosa Luisa PotenzaNational Center for Drug Research and Evaluation, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Rome, Italy.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-2342-0705
Elena ToschiResearch Coordination and Support Service, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Rome, Italy. elena.toschi@iss.it.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-9720-5971
Lucia PalmisanoNational Center for Drug Research and Evaluation, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Rome, Italy.
Istituto Superiore di Sanità · IT

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundThe 2019 novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic has highlighted the importance of health research and fostered clinical research as never before. A huge number of clinical trials for potential COVID-19 interventions have been launched worldwide. Therefore, the effort of monitoring and characterizing the ongoing research portfolio of COVID-19 clinical trials has become crucial in order to fill evidence gaps that can arise, define research priorities and methodological issues, and eventually, formulate valuable recommendations for investigators and sponsors. The main purpose of the present work was to analyze the landscape of COVID-19 clinical research in Italy, by mapping and describing the characteristics of planned clinical trials investigating the role of drugs and convalescent plasma for treatment or prevention of COVID-19 disease.

methodsDuring an 11-month period between May 2020 and April 2021, we performed a survey of the Italian COVID-19 clinical trials on therapeutic and prophylactic drugs and convalescent plasma. Clinical trials registered in the Italian Medicines Agency (AIFA) and ClinicalTrials.gov websites were regularly monitored. In the present paper, we report an analysis of study design characteristics and other trial features at 6 April 2021.

resultsNinety-four clinical trials planned to be carried out in Italy were identified. Almost all of them (91%) had a therapeutic purpose; as for the study design, the majority of them adopted a parallel group (74%) and randomized (76%) design. Few of them were blinded (33%). Eight multiarm studies were identified, and two of them were multinational platform trials. Many therapeutic strategies were investigated, mostly following a drug repositioning therapeutic approach.

conclusionsOur study describes the characteristics of COVID-19 clinical trials planned to be carried out in Italy over about 1 year of pandemic emergency. High level quality clinical trials were identified, although some weaknesses in study design and replications of experimental interventions were observed, particularly in the early phase of the pandemic. Our findings provide a critical view of the clinical research strategies adopted for COVID-19 in Italy during the early phase of the pandemic. Further actions could include monitoring and follow-up of trial results and publications and focus on non-pharmacological research areas.

Indexed as

COVID-19PandemicsAdaptive Clinical Trials as TopicClinical Trials as TopicCOVID-19 SerotherapyHumansImmunization, PassiveResearchSARS-CoV-2Clinical trialsConvalescent plasmaCOVID-19DrugsStudy designTherapeutic class

Identifiers

PMID35733167
PMCPMC9214678
OpenAlexW4283363213

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
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Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.