Two UK drugs companies will be the first to partner with the Universities of Birmingham and Oxford as part of a major new UK drugs trial to test potential therapeutics to treat patients hospitalised with COVID-19.

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In what could be a significant development in the fight against the virus the CATALYST trial, which is a collaboration with University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust (UHB), will test a series of new drugs, including those already in use for patients with cancer and inflammatory diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis.

Designed by the Inflammation – Advanced and Cell Therapy Trials Team (I-ACT) at the University of Birmingham’s Cancer Research UK Clinical Trials Unit, the trial is being run in close partnership with UHB and the Birmingham National Institute for Health Research Biomedical Research Centre (NIHR BRC) and delivered in close collaboration with the Oxford and University College London NIHR BRC’s.