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As researchers work to understand the biology and epidemiology of post-acute COVID-19, a pioneering platform trial is now testing treatments to try to address the long-term complications of infection in previously hospitalized individuals.
In late April, the HEAL-COVID trial will start recruiting COVID-19 survivors from hospitals in the UK to study treatments that could reduce the long-term effects of SARS-CoV-2 infection. For Charlotte Summers, lead investigator of the trial and an intensive care specialist at the University of Cambridge, the trial couldn’t come soon enough. “Hospitalized patients who have survived hospital discharge think ‘woohoo, I'm through the worst of it’. But actually, that's not the end of the story by a long shot,” she says.
