ASCOT: the race for therapies

With some very average research gaining global traction, and the leader of the free world proposing we inject disinfectant to fight COVID-19, we need proper science to sort the sheep from the goats.The AustralaSian Covid-19 Trial (ASCOT) aims to enrol more than 2000 patients across Australian and New Zealand hospitals to test whether two much-hyped drugs – hydroxychloroquine and lopinavir/ritonavir, or a combination – can stop disease progression.While these trials can take two years from conception to recruitment, this one has taken a matter of weeks.Penny Durham spoke to principal investigator Professor Joshua Davies about the ASCOT study, the rationale behind these drugs and the speed of pandemic science. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.