Daily UK Covid-19
The world’s largest randomised clinical trial of potential coronavirus treatments is well underway in the UK as part of the race to find a treatment.
Almost 1,000 patients from 132 different hospitals have been already recruited in just 15 days and thousands more are expected to join the Randomised Evaluation of COVID-19 Therapy (RECOVERY) trial in the coming weeks, making it the largest randomised controlled trial of potential COVID-19 treatments in the world.
A range of potential treatments have been suggested for COVID-19 but nobody knows if any of them will turn out to be more effective in helping people recover than the usual standard of hospital care which all patients will receive. The RECOVERY Trial will begin by testing some of these suggested treatments:
Lopinavir-Ritonavir (commonly used to treat HIV)
Low-dose Dexamethasone (a type of steroid, which is used in a range of conditions typically to reduce inflammation).
Hydroxychloroquine (related to an anti-malarial drug)
Azithromycin (a commonly used antibiotic)
Tocilizumab (an anti-inflammatory treatment given by injection)
Data from the trial will be regularly reviewed so that any effective treatment can be identified quickly and made available to all patients. The RECOVERY Trial team will constantly review information on new drugs and include promising ones in the trial.
