Dr. Jordan Feld graduated from medical school at the University of Toronto in 1997 and then completed residency programs in Internal Medicine and Gastroenterology. Following his clinical training, Dr. Feld focused on developing skills in clinical and laboratory research in liver disease, with a particular interest in viral hepatitis. He completed a clinical research fellowship in hepatology and then spent 4 years doing clinical and laboratory research in the Liver Diseases Branch of the National Institutes of Health. He received a Masters of Public Health with a focus on Infectious Diseases as a Sommer Scholar from Johns Hopkins University and has worked extensively abroad, maintaining a strong interest in International Health. Currently, Dr. Feld is clinician-scientist based at the Toronto Western Hospital Liver Clinic and the McLaughlin-Rotman Centre for Global Health. He is also a COVID-19 researcher at University Health Network.

Dr. Feld, Co-Director of the Schwartz Reisman Liver Research Centre, R. Phelan Chair in Translational Liver Research and internationally renowned hepatologist with a background in virology, has launched a clinical trial to test a treatment, called peginterferon lambda (or PegIFN-l), that he believes holds great promise.

Interferon-lambda, a protein found in the body, is key to our anti-viral immune response and has been shown to control respiratory viral infections in disease models, with limited side effects. PegIFN-l is a type of interferon that has been studied extensively in human trials in viral hepatitis, confirming its safety. These attributes give this treatment a head start on other potential treatments.

The study will initially focus on individuals with mild-moderate illness, who are well enough to go home and remain in home isolation. They will get one injection of PegIFN-l or placebo. PegIFN-l is naturally produced in lung infections but is lacking in COVID-19. Treatment with PegIFN-l is well-tolerated and is highly effective at curing severe viral respiratory infections in laboratory models.

PegIFN-l is a particularly attractive option because unlike oral therapies, there is no concern about patients adhering to daily doses of medication to ensure efficacy.

Assuming no safety concerns arise in the phase one of the outpatient study, researchers will enrol moderately ill but not severely ill hospitalized inpatients. Participants will receive PegIFN-I or placebo at diagnosis and a second dose one week later. The hope is that this will prevent progression to severe disease and that the majority of patients will be able to clear the virus within two weeks. Phase one has been fully funded through generous donors and a competitively awarded grant from the University of Toronto. Donor funds are needed for phase two. If proven effective, this therapy could truly change the course of this pandemic.