At least 300 participants are needed for the clinical trials to test the efficacy of melatonin as an adjuvant treatment for COVID-19, the Department of Science and Technology (DoST) said Wednesday.

DoST Secretary Fortunato dela Pena said the Manila Doctors Hospital, who will lead the trial, is already in talks with other hospitals to search for participants.

“Ang alam ko sila ay nasa recruitment process na (I think they are already in the recruitment process),” he said.

The recruitment, however, has been slow, according to Dela Pena since COVID-19 cases are on the downtrend in the country.

“Kahit yung VCO trial for PGH for severe and moderate, nahihirapan kami makadagdag ng participants dahil nga medyo umunti na ang admission ng mga severe and moderate cases (Even in our VCO trials, we are having a hard time to recruit participants because the admission of severe and moderate cases in hospitals has gone down),” Dela Pena said.

When asked how long will the melatonin trial will be conducted, the DoST chief said: “Medyo mahaba pa ang trial kasi nga medyo mahigit 300 ang kinakailangang participants (It will take a longer period to finish because they’ll be needing more than 300 participants).”

Melatonin, a sleep aid, has shown positive results in improving the condition of some severe COVID patients in Manila Doctors Hospital, according to Dela Pena.

“ Di sila nag de-deteriorate so that they will need intubation (The patients are no longer deteriorating to the point where they’ll need intubation),” Dela Pena said.

The DoST had earlier announced that recruitment for the melatonin trial has already opened.

The trial aims to find out whether melatonin can help lessen the need for intubation or ventilation support of hospitalized COVID-19 patients.

It also aims to “explore the effectiveness and safety of using hdM (melatonin) as adjuvant therapy on top of thestandard therapy in hospitalized patients with COVID-19 pneumonia.”