Also cannot help but wonder whether this could delay all trials. 

In the sense that, even if apabetalone is useful at certain stages of covid, and even if it has some prophylactic value...given the current state of pandemic and mutation after mutaion...will that need to be demonstrated in animals before human trials can really be recruited? Specifically that it does not lower survival rates due to exacerbated lung infection?

Going a step further, would a medical pratitioner hesitate to use something that might render a patient's lungs more susceptible at times like these, even if it was great for heart or kidneys?

Never much liked animal experimentation.

It just seems that they will probably need to answer this study with a few successful examples of apabetalone working without adverse impacts to lungs for it not to have an effect on the covid program and maybe other programs as well.