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Drive to recruit Covid-19 patients for clinical trials

Five top UK doctors say most promising potential treatments for disease have been identified

The UK’s five most senior doctors have written to every NHS Trust in the country urging them to make “every effort” to recruit Covid-19 patients for vital scientific research.

In the letter, the chief medical officer for Wales Frank Atherton; the former chief medical officer for Scotland Catherine Calderwood; the chief medical officer for Northern Ireland Michael McBride; the chief medical officer for England Chris Whitty; and the National Medical Director for NHS England Stephen Powis highlight the need for reliable evidence through clinical trials.

“Using international evidence and UK expertise, the most promising potential treatments, at this stage, have been identified and the UK is running national clinical trials to gather evidence across the whole disease spectrum,” they said in the letter, which was published by the National Institute for Health Research on 3 April.

The studies include the PRINCIPLE trial aimed at higher risk patients in primary care; an in-hospital trial called RECOVERY; and the REMAP-CAP trial for critically ill patients. Other priority trials are listed on the NIHR website.

“The faster that patients are recruited, the sooner we will get reliable results,” the letter said.

Meanwhile, Imperial College London has published a report on online community involvement in Covid-19 research and outbreak response based on feedback from 420 people.

According to the report, also dated 3 April, vaccine development was considered the most urgent research priority, with 95 per cent of respondents describing social studies exploring the public’s experiences, risk perceptions and behaviours during the outbreak as necessary and important.

Other areas of research that members of the public recommended included the role of the media in influencing how people react and respond to Covid-19; furthering basic understanding of the virus; critiquing the UK’s response to the pandemic against that of other countries; and ensuring lessons can be learnt from the outbreak.

According to the report’s authors Philippa Pristerà and colleagues, the main challenges identified by respondents included ineffective communication and conflicting guidance and misinformation.

“Many respondents reported a lack of trust and transparency in the government’s decision-making, which was paired with confusion around what was about to happen, what was planned and how they are meant to respond,” Pristerà team concluded. “Such feedback reveals a need for a greater dialogue between UK communities and the government, alongside more effective communication.”