A UK trial – testing whether low-risk treatment in the community can help people at higher risk of complications from COVID-19 to get better quicker, reducing the need for hospital admission – is today announcing that older people who have had coronavirus symptoms for 15 days or less can now also screen for the trial online.
More than 500 GP surgeries, including one in Haydon Wick, are already recruiting people aged 50–64 with a pre-existing illness, or aged 65 and over, into the trial.
It is the first trial of COVID-19 treatments to take place in primary care, one of the UK Government’s four national priority platform trials on the disease, and is funded by the UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) and National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) COVID-19 rapid response.
Led by an Oxford University team, the Platform Randomised trial of Interventions against COVID-19 in older peoPLE (PRINCIPLE) trial is testing pre-existing drugs for older patients in the community who show signs of the disease.
Professor Chris Butler, from Oxford University, who is leading the trial, said: “The PRINCIPLE trial platform is enabling us to rapidly evaluate potential treatments for COVID-19 in older people who are most at risk of serious complications from the illness.
“With enough people recruited, this trial will give us the vital information we need to understand whether existing drugs can help people recover sooner and at home, without needing to be admitted to hospital – a significant milestone in the course of this pandemic.
“As soon as we find that any one of the drugs in our trial is making a critical difference to people’s health, we want it to be part of clinical practice as soon as it can be introduced.”
Patients registered at the Home Ground Surgery on Thames Avenue will be screening for the trial, other Swindon residents will be able to screen for the trial participants online.
This means that regardless of which GP surgery they are registered with, older people with coronavirus symptoms can now pre-screen for the trial at home via an online questionnaire to see whether they can be included.
Professor Fiona Watt, Executive Chair of the Medical Research Council, said: “This trial is very important. It is focussed on older people and those with co-morbidities, who are much more likely to be hospitalised with COVID-19. We need more people to join the trial to see if we can identify a drug that helps prevent people reaching hospital and speeds up their recovery.”
For details of participating GP surgeries, and a link to the online screening questionnaire, visit the PRINCIPLE trial website.
