David H. Koch Professor of Science and intensivist/trauma surgeon Michael Yaffe began trials to repurpose a drug used to treat stroke and heart attack for patients with coronavirus. Tissue plasminogen activator, or tPA, breaks up blood clots, which data from China and Italy indicate contributed to respiratory failure. Yaffe, who is helping to organize the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center’s COVID-19 treatment efforts, is testing tPA in critically ill COVID-19 patients on ventilators in Boston, New York, and Colorado hospitals.
A report published in The Journal of Trauma and Acute Care Surgery suggests the approach has particular promise in cases where patients are not responding to maximum support with a ventilator or where ventilators are unavailable, potentially even preventing their need. He and his colleagues have published an initial case series with encouraging results, although larger studies are needed to determine how best to use this treatment.