Completed Infection & Immunity Pregnancy, Children & Inherited Conditions

COPCOV: Chloroquine/Hydroxychloroquine prevention of COVID-19 in the healthcare setting

Funder COVID-19 Therapeutics Accelerator Charity-funded
Recipient organisation Mahidol Oxford Tropical Medicine Research Unit, Thailand
Funding £6.9M
Period Apr 2020 — Mar 2021

In plain English

AI plain-English summary

Healthcare workers in Asia and Europe will take daily doses of chloroquine or hydroxychloroquine for three months to see if these drugs can prevent COVID-19, in a trial involving at least 40,000 participants. This matters because there is currently no proven way to prevent COVID-19 in people at high risk of exposure. Healthcare workers are disproportionately affected by the pandemic, and their illness threatens to overwhelm health services. Early evidence from China and Europe suggests these drugs may work against SARS-CoV-2, but no rigorous trial has confirmed this. Some countries have already begun recommending hydroxychloroquine for prophylaxis without solid evidence, creating an urgent need for reliable data. If the trial shows the drugs are effective, healthcare workers and other frontline staff could take a cheap, well-tolerated pill daily to reduce their risk of infection. This would help keep hospitals staffed during the pandemic and could be deployed rapidly across low- and middle-income countries, where the drugs are already widely available and affordable. If the drugs prove ineffective, the trial will prevent the widespread use of an unnecessary medication and redirect resources toward other interventions.

View original technical description
There is no proven treatment, chemoprophylaxis or vaccine for COVID-19. This is the most serious pandemic emergency for 100 years. Healthcare workers are being affected disproportionately in the continuing epidemic threatening an imminent breakdown of health services. Chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine are safe and well-tolerated medications which can be taken for years without adverse effects.Both have significant antiviral activity against SARS-CoV-2 and there is emerging evidence from China and Europe of efficacy in treatment. Unfortunately there is also premature recommendation from countries such as India which now recommends low dose hydroxychloroquine for prophylaxis in health care workers. We propose conducting a multi-centre, multi-country randomised, double blind, placebo controlled assessment of the prophylactic efficacy of chloroquine (Asia) or hydroxychloroquine (Europe) in preventing COVID-19 illness in at-risk healthcare workers and other frontline staff. At least 40,000 participants in Asia and Europe will be randomised 1:1 to receive chloroquine or hydroxychloroquine or a matched film coated placebo as daily prophylaxis for three months. The study’s objectives are the prevention of symptomatic coronavirus disease (COVID-19) and the attenuation of the clinical severity.

View the original record at the funder ↗

Researchers

Nicholas White (EPMC Awardee)

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Chloroquine/Hydroxychloroquine prevention of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in the healthcare setting; a randomised, placebo-controlled prophylaxis study (COPCOV)
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PROphylaxis for paTiEnts at risk of COVID-19 infecTion
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