HERO-HCQ

PCORnet® Gives Reason to Celebrate Connection and Community this Clinical Trials Day

Posted on by Jodi Snare

As COVID-19 pandemic continues to spread, keeping many across the world at home and disconnected from their communities, PCORnet®, the National Patient-Centered Clinical Research Network, is rallying to build coalitions and deliver hope. May 20 is Clinical Trials Day, a time to remember that clinical research has always been about bringing together people to build a healthier world—and in the era of COVID-19, patient engagement in research is more important than ever.

May 20 is commemorates the day James Lind performed the first-ever clinical trial in 1747, which was focused on scurvy. While it is a day to applaud Lind’s work in paving the way for future clinical trials, it is also fitting to celebrate the communities—clinicians, health systems, patients, and caregivers—who have propelled medical innovations forward since that time. Collaborative research has disarmed numerous diseases that were once a threat to global survival, but today are largely contained. Now, research is tackling the challenge of COVID-19, and PCORnet is enabling two opportunities for communities to come together to find answers.

  • The Healthcare Worker Exposure Response & Outcomes (HERO) Registry is a large, national clinical research community. It invites healthcare workers across America to share clinical and life experiences to understand the perspectives and problems they face on the COVID-19 pandemic front lines.
  • Those registered in the HERO Registry may have the opportunity to participate in HERO-HCQ, a randomized clinical trial of approximately 15,000 HERO Registry participants. It will test whether hydroxychloroquine can prevent COVID-19 infection in healthcare workers.

While there is still much unknown about the novel coronavirus, one thing is clear: clinical research is the best hope for answers. This Clinical Trials Day, celebrate the power of community, and if you are someone working in a healthcare setting that is caring for people with COVID-19, consider participating in the HERO registry by following the registry link above.

PCORnet®-Enabled HERO Registry Launched, Unites Frontline Healthcare Workers to Fight COVID-19

Posted on by Jodi Snare

The Healthcare Worker Exposure Response & Outcomes (HERO) Registry launched today, marking the first major milestone in a rapid-response effort to answer important questions about protecting healthcare workers from COVID-19. The HERO program is funded by the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) coordinated by the Duke Clinical Research Institute (DCRI) and enabled by PCORnet®, the National Patient-Centered Clinical Research Network.

“The HERO Registry will leverage PCORnet® resources and capacity to help us develop fast knowledge to keep healthcare workers safe and healthy, which ultimately will help protect us all,” said Adrian Hernandez, MD, MHS, principal investigator for the PCORnet Coordinating Center and the HERO program.

With the launch of the registry, the HERO program is seeking participation from hundreds of thousands of healthcare workers, including nurses, therapists, physicians, emergency responders, food service workers, environmental services workers, interpreters, and transporters—anyone who works in a setting where people receive health care. Participants will receive surveys and could be selected to participate in clinical trials. Healthcare workers can sign up via the registry and participate as much or as little as they like. The registry will follow a protocol developed by the DCRI and data guidelines to keep healthcare worker information secure.

“We’re calling on all healthcare workers to share their perspectives so that we can understand and provide answers to the problems they face in real time—and over time,” said Emily O’Brien, PhD, principal investigator of the HERO Registry and assistant professor in Duke University’s Department of Population Health Sciences.

The first rapid-cycle clinical trial using the registry, HERO-HCQ, is slated to start enrolling healthcare workers at the end of April, when sites within the PCORnet network will use the registry to identify about 15,000 interested healthcare workers to participate. The trial will randomize eligible participants to either one month of hydroxychloroquine or one month of placebo and will examine whether the drug is effective in preventing COVID-19 infection. Study results will be shared widely with the healthcare community.

Using PCORnet to conduct the study offers several major advantages over traditional trials. The network has a wealth of information to draw on in setting up the registry. It also has a well-established community of healthcare systems with experience collaborating on large clinical studies engaging patients and clinicians alike. This community will facilitate the oversight essential to ensure the study is carried out ethically and allow any interested healthcare or emergency worker to easily join the registry.

“Hospitals, health systems, and health plans that participate in PCORnet have worked in partnership for years and are well poised to deliver fast, reliable research infrastructure to study COVID-19,” said Chris Forrest, MD, PhD, co-chair of the HERO Registry and principal investigator of PEDSnet, one of multiple PCORnet Partner Networks participating in HERO-HCQ. “Infrastructure issues that might cause lag time for other studies are hurdles PCORnet has already crossed. PCORnet was developed for exactly this type of research challenge, and the network is ready to meet the moment.”