North Triangle News

The North Carolina General Assembly offered $100,000 in support of a Patient Monitoring System (PMS) project that will collect information on participants in their homes by providing them with at-home test kits in an effort to track the COVID-19 virus more efficiently.

A clinical research organization out of Winston-Salem, Javara, is teaming up with Wake Forest Baptist Health, MedStar Health, Atrium Health, and Oracle to use the online PMS to allow volunteers to remain safely at home while being monitored. The Mitra microsampler is designed by the biotechnology company Neoteryx out of Southern California. The purpose of the test study is to help understand the disease and its infection patterns while providing the medical community with the information they need to develop better treatment strategies against the coronavirus. 

“This study should rapidly allow us to define the epidemic on a regional basis and establish the framework to both track the disease in real-time and answer critical secondary research questions,”  John W. Sanders, M.D., principal investigator of the study and chief of infectious diseases at Wake Forest Baptist, said, according to Fox 8 News.

All of the findings through the volunteer study will be used by the National Institutes of Health (NIH)  and Wake Forest Baptist Health to understand the spread and immunity of the virus better in North Carolina and the world while advancing decisions on public health in the future. 

"Researchers have considerable experience using these at-home blood collection kits to track the spread of other infectious diseases like influenza, and this method is safe, effective and easy-to-use,"  Kaitlyn Sadtler, Ph.D., said, according to Cision PR Newswire. "With a small finger-prick, volunteers can help scientists fight COVID-19 from their homes."

These are at-home blood collection tests, which inspect the blood to see if the volunteer has created antibodies to the coronavirus. Wake Forest Baptist Health will use the blood testing kits for volunteers across 40 counties in North Carolina.  

“We’re humbled to contribute to such an urgent study as it illustrates clearly the connection between community partnerships and global public health,” Jennifer Byrne, CEO of Javara Inc, said, according to Fox 8 News. “Right now, information is our most valuable weapon, and by integrating community-based clinical care with remote-enabled clinical research, this project will contribute vital information to the fight against coronavirus.” 

Volunteers interested in enrollment can contact the NIH at clinicalstudiesunit@nih.gov and refer to the study by its identification number NCT04334954. Restrictions prevent previous COVID-19 patients or those with symptoms from participating.