Research is the foundation and future of medicine and clinical research is vital to achieving the ultimate goal of improving health. Traditionally, clinical research and trials have been done by academic medical centers and health systems that have longstanding commitments to building strong enterprises that allow them to bring cutting-edge therapies to the community.

The Atlantic Center for Research in Morristown has been able to develop a robust infrastructure to sustain the growing enterprise within the Atlantic Health System.

Serving as the nexus for clinical and translational research at Atlantic Health, studies at the center aim to advance the care of patients with cancer, heart disease, complex neurological and neurosurgical conditions, childhood disease and, most recently, COVID-19.

Dr. Eric Whitman is the medical director of Atlantic Health System’s oncology service line, and an expert in his field who has been the lead on numerous studies.

When COVID-19 reached elevated levels in New Jersey, Whitman, along with others on Atlantic’s cancer research team decided not to continue with cancer trials at the time and instead turned all their focus to fighting the pandemic. Being the head of the cancer program at Atlantic, and one of the most experienced clinical research doctors in the health system, Whitman wanted to put his clinical research expertise to use.

“I thought, we have a great cancer research center at Atlantic,” he said. “We can work together and support our infectious disease doctors and our pulmonary critical care doctors or hospital doctors with these research trials, as cancer doctors have the most experience with early drug development. We can make sure the research trials are being run correctly and administered correctly and leave the clinical decision-making and treatment to the doctors who are on the front line.”

Whitman said that practically overnight he and his colleagues were able to create a multi-disciplinary group with doctors and other staff in the hospital. COVID-19 brought together experts not only in infectious disease specialties, but those in pulmonary-critical care, oncology-hematology and rheumatology.

Dr. Mahalaxmi Aburi, director of Atlantic Center for Research, echoed that sentiment when asked about the collaboration among various specialties. “Atlantic has a very strong commitment to research and robust research infrastructure is very helpful in development,” she said. “We have the patient population. We’re in a better position to do the clinical trials. We can act quickly and our coded research program, that was pretty much built overnight, is a good example of that.”

One such collaborative effort, the Viral Clear study, includes an examination of Merimepodib (MMPD) in combination with the antiviral drug remdesivir in adult patients with advanced COVID-19. There are only a few antiviral therapeutics in Phase II trials or beyond. One of them is BioSig Technologies and subsidiary Viral Clear Pharmaceuticals which has trials occurring at multiple research sites around the country and here in New Jersey under Whitman’s supervision. The purpose of this study is to assess the safety and efficacy of MMPD oral solution when administered in combination with remdesivir.

Whitman says remdesivir is the drug that individuals who come into the hospital with COVID-19 pneumonia are now receiving. The Viral Clear study is designed to see if the addition of the new drug, MMPD, when combined with remdesivir, at the same time helps people get better faster and more effectively than remdesivir does alone.

Dr. John Halperin, medical director of Atlantic Health System Neuroscience, said he thinks the clinical research road has reached a new level in Atlantic’s COVID-19 program. “Just the fact that so many different people at so many levels came together and made this program happen. I think that was a testament to the culture of innovation.”

The researchers all expressed enthusiasm for the work they are performing. Of the MMPD trial Whitman said, “[a]s an experienced investigator you go into every trial excited by the drug that may help. There have been some studies that we’ve been involved with where the early results were not as exciting as others that were. You just don’t know. And the same thing is true of this trial. We just don’t know how this will end up, but we’re excited and we’re really hopeful that it helps the people if they get COVID- 19.”

Whitman added that the effort represents the most intense scientific on a single disease he has ever witnessed. “There are so many drugs that are being trialed for this. I’ve never seen such a concentration on a disease before. Something has to stick. So I’m hopeful. And the other interesting thing is that a lot of the drugs that we’ve offered for clinical trials, or that are participating in our trials, were actually developed for other diseases or approved for other diseases.”

Scientists are learning more about the virus and the way it makes people sick, and they believe they can find a drug that can help those people. Whitman said approvals are coming through on clinical trials for combinations of drugs that are designed for cancer patients, and they might come out of a trial with a double success story—something that’ll treat both illnesses.

Another study taking place in the research center is the Tscan study, in which researchers want to see if T cells, rather than antibodies, can fight off the pathogen. Halperin and Aburi explained that the purpose of this study is to understand how immune cells mount a response to COVID-19. The knowledge can be used in an effort to develop new treatments, vaccines or diagnostics that will generate appropriate T cell responses in people who have not yet been infected with COVID-19.

Halperin explained that now was a good time to look at the trials with policies and controls and analyze the results of what they actually did in case there is a surge in cases later in the year.

“I won’t say we’re taking this quieter period to try and make sense both of the data from what we have done and to set up a method to be more circumspect going forward. We are just looking to get better information from it, as we are all working to get the same goal of getting everyone better and finding something that’s going to help, or cure, or prevent.”

Having all the researchers working together is a noteworthy achievement, Aburi said.

“I mean it has been remarkable the way all hands were on deck and everyone pitched in both clinically and for the clinical research perspective. When we finally caught our breath we all said, ‘Wow that was pretty impressive!’ And that actually says a lot about the systems and the culture of inquiry the culture of innovation and just the attitude of people.”

Halperin said Whitman has a large research enterprise in oncology and that gave him the foundation on which he could really get this whole thing off the ground and moving along quickly.

“The Atlantic Center for Research provides the critical infrastructure that makes possible the implementation and management of studies, providing the means that the research could be quickly and efficiently implemented outside of a university hospital-based system, bringing health care innovation and cutting-edge treatment directly to patients in their local communities.”