(Reuters) – The U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) said on Tuesday it had paused enrollment of critically ill COVID-19 patients requiring intensive care unit support in its trials testing blood thinners against the respiratory illness.
Enrollment continues for moderately ill hospitalized COVID-19 patients, the agency said.
All trial sites have paused enrollment in this group of most critically ill hospitalized COVID-19 patients, based on deliberations of data review boards consisting of independent experts, the NIH said in a statement. https://www.nih.gov/news-events/news-releases/nih-activ-trial-blood-thinners-pauses-enrollment-critically-ill-covid-19-patients
Increased bleeding is a known complication of full-dose blood thinners and a potential for harm in this group could not be overruled, the agency said.
The NIH in September announced the launch of two of the three late-stage clinical trials to test the effectiveness and safety of different types of blood thinners in treating COVID-19 among adults.
(Reporting by Manojna Maddipatla in Bengaluru; Editing by Maju Samuel)
