The UK’s four Chief Medical Officers (CMOs) and NHS England and Improvements’ National Medical Director are urging NHS trusts across the country to continue recruiting high numbers of COVID-19 patients into the RECOVERY trial.
In a joint letter, sent to every NHS trust, they say that now there is less workforce pressure it should be the default position to offer every patient enrolment into a trial, with a target of recruiting 60% of eligible patients.
The RECOVERY trial has already shown that dexamethasone cuts deaths by one-third in patients receiving invasive mechanical ventilation and by one-fifth in patients receiving oxygen, which has “informed clinical practice worldwide and was down to your efforts in facilitating research in the NHS,” the CMOs note.
Due to its success to date RECOVERY will continue to be supported as the national clinical trial platform for COVID-19 Phase III therapeutics and will now be extended to include Phase II trials.
They also announced that a streamlined treatments prioritisation process will be used to identify the most promising candidate therapies for Phase II trials, carried out by an independent and expert UK COVID-19 Therapeutics Advisory Panel (UKCTAP).
The letter also notes that the COVID-19 research response is now shifting to the next level, which includes preparation to support a number of large-scale COVID-19 vaccine studies and advancing studies on convalescent plasma.
Finally, the CMOs highlight “an increasing need for research that was paused due to COVID-19 to restart. Other impacts on health have not gone away, and it is important that the research done in these areas is continued where possible”.
