On 3 and 4 June 2019, PREPARE held its 6th Annual Meeting in Bologna, bringing together PREPARE’s consortia, including that of APPRISE, to discuss the achievements of the work packages, work that is still yet to be done, and how PREPARE’s work can be sustained after 2021.
Dr. Nina Gobat presented the progress of Work Package 1 on the Ethical, Administrative, Regulatory and Logistical (EARL) solutions, stating that due to the research, PREPARE is closer to the goal to start in a fast manner to cope with an outbreak.
MERMAIDS, the observational work package study coordinated by Prof. Dr. Peter Horby, has seen a successful patient recruitment period with MERMAIDS-PED recruiting 850 patients, MERMAIDS-ARBO with 691, and MERMAIDS-ARI reaching 1500. Whilst ARBO is still recruiting for the final season, the data collected from PED and ARI are ready for analysis.
Prof. Dr. Chris Butler, lead of Work Package 4 on ALIC4E: ‘Antivirals for influenza Like Illness? An rCt of Clinical and Cost effectiveness in primary CarE, shared illuminating data on the primary care trial for oseltamivir and stated that the next steps for this study is to analyse the health economic values.
The clinical trial of REMAP-CAP, working alongside APPRISE, has taken flight. The global adaptive randomised controlled trial to improve survival in ICU-admitted patients with severe community acquired pneumonia is an ambitious clinical trial but is gaining momentum. Dr. Lennie Derde explained that 11 sites are currently active, 7 of which include patients. In addition, REMAP-CAP is working on a video that will be used to inform prospective patients and their families about the clinical trial and how it works. This video will be shown to patients and family members before they give their informed consent to the ICU trial.
The meeting ended with the Coordinator of PREPARE, Prof. Dr. Herman Goossens, presenting ECRAID-Plan and how this joint initiative with COMBACTE, will build on the successes of PREPARE to create a pan-European clinical research organisation.