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A UK trial of drugs which could prevent people aged over 50 who are vulnerable to developing serious coronavirus symptoms is now recruiting participants from across the country.

Serious older man using laptop close up, looking at the screen

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. It aims to slow or halt the progression of the COVID-19 and prevent the need for hospital admission.

PRINCIPLE is the first trial of COVID-19 treatments to take place in primary care, and one of the UK Government’s four national priority platform trials on the disease. More than 500 GP practices across the country are already recruiting people aged 50 and over with underlying health conditions, or people aged over 65 regardless of underlying health conditions, into the trial.

From this week the trial is now also screening 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.

Read more on the Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Sciences website or visit the PRINCIPLE trial website

This story is also featured on the University of Oxford website