On Sept. 30, 2020, University of Oxford researchers announced they had begun a new study to explore the effectiveness of the anti-tumour necrosis factor (anti-TNF) drug adalimumab as a treatment for patients with COVID-19 in the community, especially care homes. The AVID-CC trial, which will be conducted by Oxford Clinical Trials Research Unit (OCTRU), will enrol up to 750 patients from community care settings throughout the UK.

It is funded by the COVID-19 Therapeutics Accelerator, an initiative set up by Wellcome, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and Mastercard, with support from an array of public and philanthropic donors.

Residents of care homes were particularly hard hit by the first wave of COVID-19 in the UK and other countries. Research has identified limited treatments that are effective for patients in hospital with COVID-19, but no effective treatments have yet been identified for those in the community care settings, many of whom may have severe symptoms.

Anti-tumour necrosis factor (anti-TNF) drugs have been in widespread use for over 20 years for a range of inflammatory conditions. Recent studies of patients with COVID-19 have shown that patients already taking anti-TNF drugs for inflammatory bowel disease and inflammatory arthritis are less likely to be admitted to hospital. The same was not observed for patients taking other anti-inflammatory drugs. The availability of biosimilar versions of biological treatments has been an important step forward in driving down costs, making the anti-TNF treatment affordable and accessible if the trial is successful.

The study will be delivered by Hospital at Home teams around the UK. Hospital at Home is a relatively new service in which hospital-based teams reach out into the community to deliver more complex treatment interventions while avoiding the need for admission to hospital. This study sits therefore in a unique niche between the existing national platform therapeutic studies PRINCIPLE (primary care) and RECOVERY (hospitals).