The TOGETHER trial is the result of a partnership between health researchers in Brazil and Canada. As the result of the COVID-19 pandemic and the serious implications for people living in low and medium-income countries, a partnership was rapidly formed to find affordable and effective treatments from existing medications already used to treat other health conditions, with the aim of saving lives.

The TOGETHER Trial consists of 22 sites across Brazil, where patients are being treated with a range of potential new COVID-19 therapeutic agents. The aim is to give these potential therapies at the early stages of infection, in order to prevent more serious complications or death. All of these 22 trial sites share and compare their data to generate more statistically meaningful results. The trial has now expanded to South Africa, led by Francois Venter, and Pakistan, led by Zulfiquar Bhutta.

Another exciting element of the TOGETHER Trial is our ability to scan the global research frontier and look for evidence emerging from similar studies. Our adaptive platform design allows us to incorporate relevant data from other research studies, along with our own results, to yield more meaningful findings overall.

Data emerging from our clinical trials is reviewed regularly, so that those treatments showing to be useful can be used to treat patients early on. This will give health professionals more options to support people with COVID-19 and improve health outcomes.

The development of effective vaccines against the COVID-19 virus holds tremendous potential to slow and eventually halt this pandemic altogether. Unfortunately, access to vaccines in low and middle-income countries is a challenge, and people are suffering as a consequence. This reality makes the need for effective treatments in the early stages of infection all the more important.