On Feb. 18, 2021, scientists at the University of Oxford announced that the Randomised Evaluation of COVID-19 Therapy Trial, the world’s largest clinical trial for COVID-19 treatments, had expanded internationally with Indonesia and Nepal among the first countries to join. The first patients have been recruited to RECOVERY International.

The RECOVERY trial was launched rapidly in the UK in March 2020 to investigate whether any existing treatments were effective against COVID-19. It was open to all patients admitted to National Health Service hospitals with COVID-19, with over 36,000 patients recruited to date.

The trial had already delivered results that have changed clinical care, including the findings that the inexpensive steroid, dexamethasone, and the anti-inflammatory treatment, tocilizumab, significantly reduce the risk of death when given to hospitalised patients with severe COVID-19.