COVID-19 impact

Immediate protective measures were put in place for clinical trials in the UK and elsewhere to safeguard participants, at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020​. 

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Strict protective measures were also applied to the RIO trial at the time, where the leadership team took the decision to pause recruitment, being guided by NHS England and the UK Government.

During the pandemic, the CHERUB investigators have collaborated on SARS-CoV-2 research alongside their HIV work. One of these projects is the HIV arm (sub-study) of the AstraZeneca-Oxford COVID-19 vaccine trial.

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The following collaborative CHERUB publications were also published during the pandemic: 

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• RIO Trial Protocol - preprint under review with Research Square

• HIV cure research in the time of COVID-19 - Antiretroviral therapy treatment interruption trials: A discussion paper - published in the Journal of Virus Eradication

• Safety and immunogenicity of the ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 (AZD1222) vaccine against SARS-CoV-2 in HIV infection: a single-arm substudy of a phase 2/3 clinical trial - published in The Lancet HIV

• Immunotherapeutic approaches to HIV cure and remission - published in Current Opinion in Infectious Diseases

• Human MAIT cells respond to and suppress HIV-1 - published in eLIFE

• Operationalizing Human Immunodeficiency Virus Cure-related Trials with Analytic Treatment Interruptions During the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) Pandemic: A Collaborative Approach - published in the journal of Clinical Infectious Diseases

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We resumed our RIO trial recruitment in May 2021, with the added protection of a COVID-19 risk reduction strategy implemented into the study protocol, following UK regulatory authority approvals. Current NHS England protective measures are also being adhered to as part of the study including frequent testing, face masks, PPE and good hand hygiene.

​If you are interested in taking part in the RIO trial please click here to visit the website for further information.