COVID-19 Recovery Study

Hello, I'm Nick Maskell, one of the Chest Consultants at North Bristol NHS Trust, and the local Principal Investigator for the RECOVERY study.

This is a large randomised control trial which is currently recruiting to over 140 hospitals across the UK.

The RECOVERY study is looking at five therapeutic drugs to see if any of these improve the outcome in patients hospitalised with COVID-19. These drugs are Kaletra, a HIV medication; Tocilizumab, a monoclonal antibody against IL-6; Hydroxychloroquine; Azithromycin; and low-dose Dexamethasone.

Currently we've recruited over 80 patients in the Trust to the study, and nationally over 10,000.

I would like to thank all the patients that have participated in this study and the fantastic research team that have helped recruit these patients.

The RECOVERY study found that the inexpensive and widely available steroid Dexamethasone reduces death for patients with severe COVID-19 by up to one third. This has rapidly become part of standard-of-care given to all such patients.

Additional trial results in have shown that using Tocilizumab, an anti-inflammatory treatment to treat rheumatoid arthritis, reduces the risk of death when given to hospitalised patients with severe COVID-19. The study also showed that Tocilizumab shortens the time until patients are successfully discharged from hospital and reduces the need for a mechanical ventilator.