The research team at Royal Papworth Hospital has recently recruited its 100th patient to the RECOVERY Trial, a national clinical trial which aims to identify treatments that may be beneficial for people hospitalised with suspected or confirmed coronavirus (COVID-19).
The hospital’s total number of patients randomised on RECOVERY now stands at 109, which represents 38% of all eligible patients against a national baseline recruitment target of 10%.
In addition, our staff have continued treatment within the trial for another 10% of patients who were recruited to RECOVERY at other hospitals before being transferred to Royal Papworth Hospital.
A total of 34,500 patients have now been randomised on the RECOVERY Trial across 177 different sites. So far the study has shown that steroids are beneficial in treating COVID-19 but hydroxychloroquine, the anti-viral drugs Lopinavir and Ritonavir, and convalescent plasma are not. Further therapies including monoclonal antibodies, aspirin, colchicine and most recently Baricitinib are under evaluation.
Dr Robert Rintoul, Director of the Papworth Trials Unit Collaboration, said of the team effort involved: “As the principal investigator for the RECOVERY Trial at Royal Papworth Hospital, I would like to thank all the staff in research and development, critical care and on the respiratory wards for the huge contribution that they have made to the study to date.
“To be able to offer the study to such a high percentage of our patients is remarkable for this type of study. Of course, none of this would have been possible without the participation of our patients and their families for which we are very grateful. Thank you for helping us with this game-changing research.”