NEW BRUNSWICK – Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey is seeking 160 COVID-19 patients for a clinical trial to treat the virus during the next four to six weeks, Director Steven K. Libutti said.

About 30 patients have been tested so far at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick and University Hospital in Newark, Libutti said. Outpatient testing is also available at a drive-thru site, the location of which is provided upon acceptance into the trial, he said.

The trial is not limited to cancer patients, he said. Partners include Rutgers' RUCDR Infinite Biologics, the world’s largest university-based cell biorepository.

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Researchers at Rutgers Cancer Institute are exploring if azithromycin combined with hydroxychloroquine is better than hydroxychloroquine alone for treatment of patients with COVID-19. Azithromycin is approved by the FDA for the treatment of infections. Hydroxychloroquine is approved by the FDA for the treatment of malaria and auto-immune diseases, such as lupus and rheumatoid arthritis.

Eligible participants will be assigned randomly into three groups. One group of at least 60 will be treated with azithromycin and hydroxychloroquine. Another group of 60 will be treated with hydroxychloroquine alone. And supportive care will be provided to a group of 30 for six days followed by hydroxychloroquine.

“While some practitioners across the state have been offering this type of treatment for some individualized cases, it is imperative that a controlled clinical trial with a large patient population take place in order to ensure the integrity of the results being gathered," Libutti said in a statement. "As a National Cancer Institute-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center, Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey has the infrastructure and expertise to carry out this clinical trial.”

For information on how to take part in this clinical trial, individuals should call Rutgers Cancer Institute’s Office of Human Research Services at 732-235-7356 or email statewide_research@cinj.rutgers.edu.

The 10-day treatment will be followed monthly for six months to monitor for return of symptoms, Libutti said. Bloodwork and a physical exam will be required of patients, who must be aged 18 and older.

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While cancer care has slowed because of the pandemic's impact on staffing and other issues, he said plans for the Cancer Institute's expansion into the state's first-ever free-standing cancer hospital remain on schedule. Stakeholders have been able to meet remotely, while designers have tele-worked on the project, said Libutti, who also is senior vice president of oncology services at RWJBarnabas Health and vice chancellor of cancer programs at Rutgers Biomedical and Health Sciences.

"The pandemic underscores not only the importance of bed capacity for hospitals, but it would be great if we had a free-standing cancer hospital right now that we could be sending our cancer patients to and protecting them during this pandemic," he said. "We and other health systems are working hard to keep cancer patients as protected as possible because they are challenged by infectious disease. That's why it's important to have a cancer hospital, so it's not going to fall by the wayside.

"The pandemic is a horrible nightmare, but we all will get through it," Libutti continued. "It's something we need to address with everything we have. But we also have to remember that just in the State of New Jersey, 50,000 people get cancer every year, and 16,000 of them are going to die. In the U.S., 1.6 million people will get cancer in 2020, and 600,000 of them will die. We have to be able to do both. Attack the pandemic and use all our efforts to do so, but we can't forget our obligation to continue to treat cancer patients and make sure our future infrastructure for them is as good as it can be."

Email: bmakin@gannettnj.com

Bob Makin covers Rutgers for MyCentralJersey.com and the USA TODAY NETWORK New Jersey. To get unlimited access to his informative and entertaining work, please subscribe or activate your digital account today.