COVINGTON, Ky.  — Patients might soon be treated for the Coronavirus. A Northern Kentucky research firm has been given the green light to treat COVID-19 patients.

For more than two decades CTI Consulting Services has been focused on researching critically-ill patient populations.

“Up until probably 6 months ago, we did not have any expertise or any research projects around Coronavirus or Covid-19,” said Tim Schroeder, Founder, and CEO. “But it was a sort of natural evolution for the company because we do so much research in this sick patient population.”

Most recently, the Food and Drug Administration approved the Covington-based consulting firm to conduct a clinical trial.

The research firm is partnering with a California-based pharmaceutical company called Humanigen.

Together they will study the treatment drug Lenzilumab on patients for the prevention of Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome and patients who have been hospitalized or have passed away from Pneumonia associated with the Coronavirus.

“So our team helped their team from the beginning. We did all the submissions to the FDA. All the groups there that you have to interact with and educate and they come back with suggestions and comments and ultimately you’re able to get study design approved,” Schroeder said.

A process Schroeder said happened in a matter of 4 weeks to move the treatment study forward compared to years it takes for approval through the FDA.

On top of researching the treatment drug, CTI will also conduct preventative studies researching vaccine trials that will soon be underway.

“We’ll start out with healthy volunteers and then after we have data on those volunteers and know the right dose,” Schroeder said. “Then we might go into at-risk populations like elderly patients or some of the individuals like I mentioned before, the cancer patients, the transplant patients.”

Schroeder says, hopefully, they will learn more about the virus through these studies in the coming months.

The research firm is seeking volunteers and patients.