CADTH Weekly COVID-19 Update

CADTH is committed to supporting Canada’s health care decision-makers through this challenging and uncertain time.

Our COVID-19 evidence portal contains the latest COVID-19 information from CADTH and other respected organizations. Content is updated daily to reflect the rapidly changing and growing state of the international scientific evidence related to this disease.

The following is a summary of the most recent information posted to our COVID-19 portal.

Reports

Enablers for Virtual Visits

• The COVID-19 pandemic has forced the widespread use of virtual visits, demonstrating that care can be delivered effectively through virtual means.
• As the risk of transmission and exposure to the virus remain, and as patient demand for virtual access to health care providers is unlikely to abate over the immediate term and beyond, the health system must consider mechanisms to best incorporate virtual visits as a regular component of health care delivery.
• Based on these changing health care dynamics, decision-makers are interested in understanding the enablers needed to continue to offer virtual visits effectively as a standard form of health care delivery in Canada.

Panels

Remdesivir Implementation Panel

• Remdesivir (Veklury) is authorized by Health Canada to treat patients with severe COVID-19 symptoms who have pneumonia and need extra oxygen to help them breathe.
• CADTH is convening an implementation panel of clinical specialists with experience in the treatment of patients with severe symptoms of COVID-19, as well as an ethicist, to help determine criteria for the use of remdesivir.
• The panel’s objective is to develop criteria that could help identify which patients would benefit most from treatment with this drug.
• This work is being undertaken to support future pandemic preparedness, where evidence-informed criteria may be useful to support decision-making.

COVID-19 News

Visit our news page to stay on top of all of the emerging evidence we are monitoring and updating. Highlights on the latest news includes information on:

Systemic Corticosteroids
On September 2, 2020, the results of three randomized controlled trials examining the effect of systemic corticosteroids for the treatment of severe COVID-19 were published: the CAPE-COVID trial, the CoDEX trial, and the REMAP-CAP COVID-19 corticosteroid domain trial. In addition, a prospective meta-analysis of seven randomized controlled trials (including the three new trials and the RECOVERY trial) was published.

Interferon Beta-1b
On August 24, 2020, the results of a study on interferon beta-1b for the treatment of COVID-19 were published.

Interferon Beta-1a
On August 20, 2020, a small, single-centre (Iran), open-label randomized controlled trial was published comparing interferon beta 1a to standard of care for patients hospitalized with COVID-19.

CADTH Literature Searching Tools

To help conduct your COVID-19–related literature searches, see our COVID-19 Search Strings and our COVID-19 Grey Literature Resources.

Additional Resources

CADTH is pleased to showcase additional COVID-19 resources from our partner organizations, as well as from the Canadian federal, provincial, and territorial governments’ health jurisdictions:

• Pan-Canadian Health Organizations
• Federal, Provincial, and Territorial Information

Can't Find What You Need? Let Us Know

Canadian ministries and departments of health, publicly funded organizations responsible for health service delivery, and clinical society stakeholders are encouraged to submit a request or contact their CADTH Liaison Officer. We’re here to help.

The CADTH Weekly COVID-19 Update is intended to keep you informed about the latest information posted on the CADTH COVID-19 portal. You’re receiving this update because you’ve subscribed to our CADTH e-alert system.