BPCA-PTN COVID-19 STUDIES

NIH Pandemic-Era Grants

Pandemic Era Grants

2022

Document text

Principal Investigator: KANECIA  ZIMMERMAN, MD
Organization: DUKE UNIVERSITY
Fiscal Year: 2022
Award: $999,956
Funding agency: Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development

For the last 25 years the scientific community, including academia, the National Institutes of 
Health (NIH), the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the pharmaceutical industry have worked to 
improve the knowledge of medications used in children. The responsibility for the implementation 
and oversight for improving drug development has been delegated primarily to the FDA (for on-patent 
drugs) and to the NIH (for off-patent drugs). The Pediatric Trials Network (PTN) has been 
established and funded under the Best Pharmaceuticals for Children Act (BPCA) Clinical Program 
implemented by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development 
(NICHD).

Many PTN studies historically capitalize on standard of care (SOC) procedures, such as data and 
biological-sample collection from infants and children already receiving drugs of interest (DOIs), 
and have produced meaningful pharmacokinetic (PK) data resulting in improved dosing recommendations 
in infants and children. These studies do not prescribe or administer drugs to children, but rather 
collected samples from children who were already receiving drugs per SOC as prescribed by their 
treating provider. In addition, preliminary data obtained through opportunistic studies have served 
to design phase 1 through 3 trials in children as well as support applications for extramural 
research.

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic is caused by the novel severe acute respiratory 
syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The infection may range from the patient having no symptoms to 
causing a wide range of symptoms, such as mild cold like symptom to life-threatening pneumonias, 
sepsis, and multi-organ system failure. COVID-19 first emerged in December 2019 when a cluster of 
patients in Wuhan, China developed severe pneumonias of unknown cause. [Wiersinga et al, JAMA 
doi:10.1001/jama2020.12839]. As of August 11, 2020, SARS-CoV-2 has affected more than 200 
countries, resulting in 20,124,437 million identified cases with over 737K confirmed deaths 
[https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov]. In April 2020 at the peak of the COVID-19 outbreak, 
there was recognized a new onset of hyperinflammatory symptoms in children who either had active 
disease or in children who had been previously exposed to COVID-19 with or without symptoms. This 
syndrome was named multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C) by the CDC in May 2020. As 
of July 29, 2020, 570 patients have met the criteria for MIS-C in the US 
[https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/69/wr/mm6932e2.htm]. As the pandemic continues to spread 
throughout the US and the world, the scientific community anticipates that the number of children 
infected and affected will continue to rise. There must be an organized concerted collaborative 
effort between public health, patient care, and research in order for the appropriate prevention, 
identification and treatment of children impacted by COVID-19.

Since COVID-19 has ravaged the world with inordinate high infection rates and death, the need
for preventive, research and clinical data have become paramount and top priority for NIH as a
research and funding institution. Furthermore, NIH, academia, clinicians, and others in the 
scientific community are concluding that the harmonization of all epidemiology and clinical related 
data as well as clinically relevant outcomes vital to identification and treatment of patients 
at-risk for COVID-related illnesses, such as the multi-system inflammatory syndrome in children 
(MIS-C), are critical to successfully managing the pandemic.

These COVID-19 related studies will leverage the expertise and existing data within the PTN 
infrastructure of the BPCA program (BPCA PTN and Data Coordinating Center) to expand the
research on SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) in children.

Terms: <0-11 years old><2019 novel corona virus><2019 novel coronavirus><2019-nCoV><Academia><Affect><Best Pharmaceuticals for Children Act><Biological><Biological Markers><CDC><COVID><COVID crisis><COVID epidemic><COVID pandemic><COVID-19><COVID-19 affected><COVID-19 consequence><COVID-19 crisis><COVID-19 effect><COVID-19 epidemic><COVID-19 exposure><COVID-19 global health crisis><COVID-19 global pandemic><COVID-19 health crisis><COVID-19 impact><COVID-19 impacted><COVID-19 outbreak><COVID-19 pandemic><COVID-19 public health crisis><COVID-19 virus><COVID19><COVID19 crisis><COVID19 epidemic><COVID19 global health crisis><COVID19 global pandemic><COVID19 health crisis><COVID19 outbreak><COVID19 pandemic><COVID19 public health crisis><COVID19 virus><CV-19><CV19><Centers for Disease Control><Centers for Disease Control and Prevention><Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (U.S.)><Cessation of life><Child><Child Youth><Childhood><Children (0-21)><China><Clinical><Clinical Data><Clinical Trials Design><CoV disease><CoV-2><CoV2><Communities><Coronaviridae><Coronavirus><Country><Data><Data Coordinating Center><Data Coordination Center><Death><Diagnosis><Disease><Disorder><Dose><Drug Industry><Drug Kinetics><Drugs><EXTMR><Effectiveness><Epidemiology><Extramural><Extramural Activities><Failure><Food and Drug Administration><Funding><Future><Infant><Infection><Institution><Intervention><Intervention Strategies><Knowledge><Legal patent><Life><MIS-C><Mainland China><Medication><Multiorgan Inflammatory Syndrome in Children><Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome in Children><NICHD><NIH><Names><National Institute of Child Health and Human Development><National Institute of Children's Health and Human Development><National Institutes of Health><Network Infrastructure><Outcome><Patents><Patient Care><Patient Care Delivery><Patients><Pharmaceutic Industry><Pharmaceutic Preparations><Pharmaceutical Industry><Pharmaceutical Preparations><Pharmacokinetics><Pneumonia><Population><Prevention><Preventive><Procedures><Provider><Public Health><Recommendation><Reporting><Research><Risk><Risk Factors><SARS corona virus 2><SARS-CO-V2><SARS-COVID-2><SARS-CoV-2><SARS-CoV-2 epidemic><SARS-CoV-2 exposure><SARS-CoV-2 global health crisis><SARS-CoV-2 global pandemic><SARS-CoV-2 outbreak><SARS-CoV-2 pandemic><SARS-CoV2><SARS-CoV2 epidemic><SARS-CoV2 exposure><SARS-CoV2 outbreak><SARS-CoV2 pandemic><SARS-associated corona virus 2><SARS-associated coronavirus 2><SARS-coronavirus-2><SARS-coronavirus-2 epidemic><SARS-coronavirus-2 pandemic><SARS-related corona virus 2><SARS-related coronavirus 2><SARSCoV2><Safety><Sampling><Science><Sepsis><Severe Acute Respiratory Coronavirus 2><Severe Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome CoV 2><Severe Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome Corona Virus 2><Severe Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome Coronavirus 2><Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome CoV 2><Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome CoV 2 epidemic><Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome CoV 2 pandemic><Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome-associated coronavirus 2><Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome-related coronavirus 2><Severe acute respiratory syndrome associated corona virus 2><Severe acute respiratory syndrome corona virus 2><Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2><Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 epidemic><Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 exposure><Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 outbreak><Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 pandemic><Severe acute respiratory syndrome related corona virus 2><Symptoms><Syndrome><System><Therapeutic><USFDA><United States Centers for Disease Control><United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention><United States Food and Drug Administration><United States National Institutes of Health><Work><Wuhan coronavirus><bio-markers><biologic><biologic marker><biomarker><blood infection><bloodstream infection><clinical relevance><clinically relevant><corona virus><corona virus disease><corona virus disease 2019><corona virus disease 2019 epidemic><corona virus disease 2019 pandemic><coronavirus disease><coronavirus disease 2019><coronavirus disease 2019 consequence><coronavirus disease 2019 crisis><coronavirus disease 2019 effect><coronavirus disease 2019 epidemic><coronavirus disease 2019 exposure><coronavirus disease 2019 global health crisis><coronavirus disease 2019 global pandemic><coronavirus disease 2019 health crisis><coronavirus disease 2019 impact><coronavirus disease 2019 outbreak><coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic><coronavirus disease 2019 public health crisis><coronavirus disease 2019 virus><coronavirus disease crisis><coronavirus disease epidemic><coronavirus disease pandemic><coronavirus disease-19><coronavirus disease-19 global pandemic><coronavirus disease-19 impact><coronavirus disease-19 outbreak><coronavirus disease-19 pandemic><coronavirus disease-19 virus><coronavirus infectious disease-19><data harmonization><design><designing><disease diagnosis><drug development><drug/agent><epidemiologic><epidemiological><exposure to COVID-19><exposure to SARS-CoV-2><exposure to SARS-CoV2><exposure to Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2><exposure to coronavirus disease 2019><hCoV19><harmonized data><improved><infection rate><interest><interventional strategy><multisystem inflammatory syndrome of children><nCoV2><novel><off-patent><pandemic><pandemic disease><pediatric><pediatric inflammatory multisystem syndrome><phase 1 designs><phase I designs><programs><rate of infection><sample collection><severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 global health crisis><severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 global pandemic><specimen collection><standard of care><youngster>