Image: 2020 The University of Tokyo. We are once again delighted to announce the ASCOT Trial publication in NEJM Evidence, this time for the antiviral domain results. This publication would not be possible without the joint effort of all ASCOT collaborators, investigators, and study participants, and the support from our funders. The purpose of this domain was to determine whether receipt of a potential antiviral treatment, nafamostat mesylate (nafamostat), showed more benefit compared to not receiving the nafamostat treatment. Nafamostat has been safely used in humans for other condition ..read more

We are delighted to announce that the results from the Anticoagulation Domain have now been published in the New England Journal of Medicine Evidence and presented by ASCOT CI Zoe McQuilten at the American Society for Hematology conference in New Orleans. The publication of these results would not be possible without the joint effort of all ASCOT collaborators and investigators and the support from our funders. Patients in hospital with COVID-19 are at increased risk of blood clots (or thromboses), which in turn may contribute to development of organ failure. Almost all these patient ..read more

ASCOT and REMAP-CAP have been awarded $3,997,914 by the Australian Government through the Medical Research Future Fund (MRFF) in a joint proposal to combine platforms. Based at the Monash School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine at Monash University and led by Professor Steve Webb, the Randomised, Embedded, Multi-factorial, Adaptive Platform Trial for Community-Acquired Pneumonia (REMAP-CAP) is a well-established adaptive platform trial enrolling critically ill patients with COVID-19 across 25 countries. “This is an exciting development that means ASCOT will generate results that contri ..read more

On Thursday, 11 August 2022, the ASCOT Trial Steering Committee (TSC), with support from the Antiviral Domain-Specific Working Group (DSWG), made the decision to close the Antiviral Treatment Domain. The Domain was officially switched off on the study database at 4:00PM AEST on Friday, 12 August 2022. At the time of this decision, there was a total of 159 participants enrolled in the Antiviral Domain worldwide. The rationale for this decision is due to the feasibility of continuing the domain. We are seeing a much slower recruitment rate with a highly vaccinated population and less severe vari ..read more

On Thursday, 7 April 2022, the ASCOT Trial Steering Committee (TSC), with support from the Anticoagulation Domain-Specific Working Group (DSWG), made the decision to close the Anticoagulation Treatment Domain. The Domain was officially switched off on the study database at 4:30pm AEST on Friday, 8 April 2022. At the time of this decision, there was a total of 1575 participants enrolled in the Anticoagulation Domain worldwide. The rationale for this decision is due to the feasibility of continuing the domain. The incidence of patients meeting the primary outcome for ASCOT has been much lower th ..read more

New research has shown that COVID-19 clinical trials are being disproportionately run out of high-income countries. Published in Jama Network Open and led by researchers from the Doherty Institute and The George Institute, the study found the majority of randomised clinical trials for COVID-19 are being performed in high-income countries, clearly misrepresenting the global burden of the disease. Professor Steven Tong, a Royal Melbourne Hospital infectious diseases clinician, co-lead of clinical research at the Doherty Institute, Principal Investigator of the AustralaSian COVID-19 Trial (ASCOT ..read more

Australasian COVID-19 Trial (ASCOT) reached an important milestone on Tuesday, 21 September 2021, randomising the 1,000th patient into the study. To reach this milestone since the first enrolment in mid-February 2021, is a commendable feat and would not be possible without the hard work from all ASCOT collaborators and the dedicated site teams. A special thankyou to the team at the George Institute who have managed and coordinated a large proportion of these enrolments, which have come from sites in India. Congratulations to Maharaja Agrasen Superspeciality Hospital in India, who were the site ..read more

On the 22 July 2021, the ASCOT International Trial Steering Committee (ITSC) made the decision to cease patient enrolment into aspirin-containing arms of the Anticoagulation Treatment Domain of the ASCOT trial. The rationale for removing these treatment arms is that emerging evidence from other platform trials suggests that aspirin does not benefit patients hospitalised with COVID-19. The UK’s RECOVERY trial has reported results for 14,892 patients that shows there was no benefit of aspirin treatment compared to standard of care treatment. Additionally, the REMAP-CAP trial has reported results ..read more

By Associate Professor Justin Denholm, Principal Investigator on ASCOT The PRINCIPLE trial recently announced that their ongoing platform will now add ivermectin to the list of drugs being evaluated. PRINCIPLE’s focus is on treatment for people in the UK community who have recently developed symptoms of COVID-19, and will give three days of ivermectin to look at whether fewer are admitted to hospital than compared with standard of care. REMAP-CAP has also just announced they will be testing ivermectin for critically ill patients. While PRINCIPLE will likely be the largest study to consider ive ..read more

By Dr Neta Petersiel, Clinical Research Fellow for ASCOT  The past 18 months often feel like a weird dream, our reality perhaps forever changed by a virus. We are now used to speaking about COVID “waves” and lockdowns, wearing surgical masks and practicing social distancing. While the pandemic has affected the entire world, it has taken a different course in each country. Here, I share with you the unique aspects of the pandemic in Israel and some of my personal experiences dealing with it. The first COVID-19 cases in Israel were diagnosed in March 2020. I first started working as an atte ..read more