The award specifically recognised RECOVERY’s work to investigate whether the cheap steroid dexamethasone was an effective treatment for patients hospitalised with severe COVID-19. The trial compared over 2100 patients who received dexamethasone and usual standard-of-care with more than 4,300 patients who received usual standard-of-care alone. On 16 June, the trial announced the result that dexamethasone reduces death by up to a third for severely ill COVID-19 patients. Dexamethasone is now recommended for COVID-19 patients worldwide, potentially saving many thousands of lives.
‘We recognise that the pandemic has had such a significant impact on people’s lives and the UK economy. We had an overwhelming response to the Special COVID-19 category and it was a difficult decision for our judging panel to select the shortlist. We congratulate the RECOVERY trial on being shortlisted and wish them and the other nine projects all the best as they are put to the public vote to select the overall winner,’ explained Chris Field, President of PMI UK, part of the world’s leading project management professional body.
Professor Richard Haynes from Oxford University’s Nuffield Department of Population Health, and Clinical Coordinator for the RECOVERY trial, said: ‘The RECOVERY team are thrilled to have been shortlisted for this award. Trials like RECOVERY are a real team effort which require people with a wide variety of expertise to all play their role for them to succeed. The team in Oxford have done a phenomenal job of doing in weeks what would usually take months or years, and our collaborators at our 176 sites have delivered amazingly. Above all, RECOVERY is a project with a purpose which is to find treatments like dexamethasone which improve outcomes for people unwell with COVID-19. We are also immensely grateful to our brave participants who have volunteered to take part and help the trial succeed.’
The overall winner for the Special COVID-19 response category will be decided by public vote, with the result announced in March 2021. Voting is open until 28 February, via the PMI website. Please vote for us!