Randomised Evaluation of COVID-19 Therapy
RECOVERY is a randomised trial of treatments to prevent death in patients hospitalised with pneumonia. The treatments being investigated are: COVID-19: Lopinavir-Ritonavir, Hydroxychloroquine, Corticosteroids, Azithromycin, Colchicine, IV Immunoglobulin (children only), Convalescent plasma, Casirivimab+Imdevimab, Tocilizumab, Aspirin, Baricitinib, Empagliflozin, Sotrovimab, Molnupiravir, Paxlovid or Anakinra (children only) Influenza: Baloxavir marboxil, Oseltamivir, Corticosteroids (dexamethasone) Community-acquired pneumonia: Corticosteroids (dexamethasone)
⁃ Eligibility Criteria (as per Protocol v28.0):
⁃ Patients are eligible for the study if all of the following are true:
⁃ (i) Hospitalised
⁃ (ii) Pneumonia syndrome
⁃ In general, pneumonia should be suspected when a patient presents with:
• typical symptoms of a new respiratory tract infection (e.g. influenza-like illness with fever and muscle pain, or respiratory illness with cough and shortness of breath); and
• objective evidence of acute lung disease (e.g. consolidation or ground-glass shadowing on X-ray or CT, hypoxia, or compatible clinical examination); and
• alternative causes have been considered unlikely or excluded (e.g. heart failure).
⁃ However, the diagnosis remains a clinical one based on the opinion of the managing doctor (the above criteria are just a guide).
⁃ (iii) One of the following diagnoses:
• Confirmed influenza A or B infection (including patients with SARS-CoV-2 co-infection)
• Community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) with planned antibiotic treatment (excluding patients with suspected or confirmed SARS-CoV-2, influenza, active pulmonary tuberculosis or Pneumocystis jirovecii pneumonia)
⁃ (iv) No medical history that might, in the opinion of the attending clinician, put the patient at significant risk if he/she were to participate in the trial
⁃ Patients with suspected or confirmed active pulmonary tuberculosis or Pneumocystis jirovecii pneumonia (also known as PCP or PJP) are excluded from the CAP comparison, as these infections are caused by specific organisms with distinct pathologies, and so are not usually categorised as CAP. Eligibility for the CAP comparison also requires planned antibiotic treatment, so patients being treated solely for fungal or viral pneumonia are not eligible.
⁃ Patients with SARS-CoV-2 and influenza co-infection are eligible, but would be excluded from certain comparisons if the attending clinician believes that there is a specific contra-indication to one of the active drug treatment arms (see Protocol Appendix 2, Appendix 3 for children, and Appendix 4 for pregnant and breastfeeding women), or that the patient should definitely be receiving one of the active drug treatment arms then that arm will not be available for randomisation for that patient. For patients who lack capacity, an advanced directive or behaviour that clearly indicates that they would not wish to participate in the trial would be considered sufficient reason to exclude them from the trial.
⁃ Patients who have been previously recruited into RECOVERY are eligible to be recruited again as long as their previous randomisation was \>6 months ago. Patients will not be recruited into the same randomised comparison (e.g. sotrovimab vs. usual care) on more than one occasion, regardless of how far apart they occur.
⁃ In some locations, children (aged \<18 years) will not be recruited, to comply with local and national regulatory approvals (see Appendix 6).
⁃ Note: the eligibility criteria has changed from COVID-19 to pneumonia (Influenza \& CAP). For detailed information about previous eligibility criteria please see the previous Protocol's on the study website: https://www.recoverytrial.net/uk/for-site-staff/site-set-up-1/regulatory-documents