Canadian Adaptive Platform Trial of Treatments for COVID in Community Settings (CanTreatCOVID)

Collaboration to create a pan-Canadian platform to advance research into the clinical and cost-effectiveness of current and emerging treatments for COVID-19 in non-hospitalized patients.

In Progress

COVID-19

While public health measures and vaccines have reduced the impact of SARS-CoV-2 on hospitalization and death, most scientists predict this virus will become endemic and new variants will continue to emerge. Effective and affordable medications in community settings are needed to accelerate recovery, prevent hospitalization and/or death, and to minimize the development of long COVID.

Most randomized controlled trial evidence to date has been generated in patients who have not been vaccinated and who did not already have natural infection. The Canadian Adaptive Platform Trial of Treatments for COVID in Community Settings (CanTreatCOVID) will evaluate the clinical- and cost-effectiveness of medications for SARS-CoV-2 in non-hospitalized patients. In Canada and worldwide, the majority of patients have now been vaccinated and/or had prior infection. Adaptive platform trials (APTs) are designed to compare multiple therapies in an efficient manner, which will allow us to respond to the dynamic nature of the COVID-19 pandemic and study new medications as they emerge

Therapeutics to be evaluated will be identified through a transparent Canadian COVID-19 Out-Patient Therapeutics Committee. The primary outcome is all-cause hospitalization and/or death at 28 days, and key secondary outcomes include time to recovery, symptom severity, incidence of long COVID, quality of life, and cost-effectiveness of each therapeutic. CanTreatCOVID uses numerous approaches to recruit participants to the study, including a multi-faceted public communication strategy and outreach through primary care, out-patient clinics, and emergency departments. A unique strength of this trial is additional prospective recruitment using Electronic Medical Record data from primary care research and learning networks in Ontario, Quebec, Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, and Newfoundland.

Impact

The results of this study will help Canada and other countries in deciding which treatments are most effective in reducing hospitalization and death among patients with COVID-19, while also being cost-effective, adding to our current knowledge on medications and therapeutics during the COVID-19 pandemic. Our findings will directly influence standards of care for COVID-19 infection in community settings in Canada and around the world.

This study will also build experience within Canada with conducting APTs, something that is currently lacking. Beyond COVID-19, our APT infrastructure can be adapted to study therapeutics for influenza,  other upper respiratory pathogens and other diseases in the future.

For more information on this study, please visit cantreatcovid.org

COVID-19

Dr. Andrew Pinto

Dr. Andrew Pinto is the founder and director of the Upstream Lab at MAP, a research team focused on tackling social determinants of health, population health management, and using data science to enable proactive care. He holds the CIHR Applied Public Health Chair in Upstream Prevention. Dr. Pinto is a scientist with MAP Centre for Urban Health Solutions, Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute.

Investigators

  • Dr. Amanda Condon (University of Manitoba) Principal Investigator
  • Dr. Bruno da Costa (University of Toronto) Principal Investigator
  • Dr. Peter Daley (Memorial University) Principal Investigator
  • Dr. Michelle Greiver (University of Toronto) Principal Investigator
  • Dr. Corinne Hohl (University of British Columbia) Principal Investigator
  • Dr. Peter Jüni (University of Toronto) Principal Investigator
  • Dr. Todd Lee (McGill University) Principal Investigator
  • Dr. Kerry McBrien (University of Calgary) Principal Investigator
  • Dr. Emily McDonald (McGill University) Principal Investigator
  • Dr. Srinivas Murthy (University of British Columbia) Principal Investigator
  • Dr. Peter Selby (University of Toronto) Principal Investigator

Funders

  • Canadian Institutes of Health Research
  • Health Canada

Contact Info

Geil Astorga