In the beginning of the pandemic, hundreds of clinical trials were taking place across Europe to test potential treatments, however with a risk of duplication and insufficient patient recruitment. Working in close coordination, RECOVER and EU-RESPONSE will deliver a comprehensive development strategy for COVID-19 platforms in Europe, offering a simple and efficient access for new therapies to be tested, and provide support for the setting up of platform trials.
The joint coordination module, led by ECRIN, will ensure that the European COVID-19 Adaptive Platform Trials are scalable and sustainable. It will also establish a dialogue with external stakeholders including the European Medicines Agency (EMA), the HTAs (EUnetHTA), and the national competent authorities (CTFG) to define high-level strategies, optimize the use of existing Adaptive Platform Trials, and recommend the creation of new ones for testing vaccines, preventative measures, or early “test-and-treat” interventions in primary care for COVID-19 in Europe.
The bridge between RECOVER and EU-RESPONSE will guarantee complementarity, harmonization and synergies with other European and international projects, and will avoid fragmentation and redundancies. In addition, the joint coordination module can serve as a blueprint for the creation and management of Adaptive Platform Trials in other disease areas beyond COVID-19.