RECOVER-ENERGIZE enrolls first clinical trial participant
A research team at RECOVER’s South Dakota study site seeks to enroll people from different backgrounds in RECOVER-ENERGIZE to answer important questions about Long COVID.
RECOVER-ENERGIZE, a set of two clinical trials focused on potential treatments for people with symptoms of exercise intolerance or post-exertional malaise (PEM) related to Long COVID, recently enrolled its first participant at Avera McKennan Hospital and University Health Center in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. About 660 total participants will be enrolled across the two trials at 45 locations in the United States.
Dr. Sophie M. Two Hawk, principal investigator at RECOVER’s Avera McKennan study site, says she noticed that many of her patients were developing Long COVID symptoms and wanted to be part of a solution. “There were limited studies about treatments for these symptoms, so I had to observe incidental treatments to inform my care decisions. I knew that to truly know if a treatment was effective, we needed research,” she says.
In collaboration with doctors, researchers, and patient and community Representatives, RECOVER-ENERGIZE was created to study potential treatments for adults who still have:
- Exercise intolerance, which may be experienced as shortness of breath, muscle weakness, or extreme tiredness (fatigue) that causes a person to stop physical activity, or
- Post-exertional malaise (PEM), which may be experienced as exercise intolerance as well as difficulty thinking, trouble sleeping, or severe tiredness after minimal physical, mental, social, or emotional activity that may last for days or even weeks.
As a RECOVER-ENERGIZE site, Dr. Two Hawk’s team works to ensure that people in their local communities have the information and assistance they need to participate in this research. “We attend several local events each month where we talk to community members about the RECOVER clinical trials. This outreach has led to several enrolled participants,” says Shelby Petereit, Clinical Research Supervisor at Avera McKennan. “We also offer Lyft rides to and from the research clinic and home visits via our mobile health unit.”
In addition to removing barriers to participation, Dr. Two Hawk’s team also prioritizes enrolling people of different backgrounds and people who experience different symptoms, which helps ensure that the results from these studies can help as many people as possible.
RECOVER-ENERGIZE will continue to enroll trial participants at 45 planned sites throughout the country. All active study sites are listed in the study record on ClinicalTrials.gov.
