Covidtrials.ca is the first website in Canada that’s designed as a hub to match patients with COVID-19 clinical trials
Finding effective treatments and vaccines to mitigate the toll of COVID-19 means working together and being more connected than ever before.
Covidtrials.ca is the first website in Canada that’s designed as a hub to match patients with COVID-19 clinical trials. It’s an innovation that should help researchers in Canada connect with the participants they need and accelerate their urgent, important work to lead us to a viable treatment or vaccine for this disease.
We know that people with cancer are at a higher risk for more serious outcomes of COVID-19. Some cancer treatments can weaken the immune system, making it even harder to fight infections. Finding effective treatments and vaccines is of paramount importance.
Canadian researchers are racing to do the important work that will get us there -- but one of their barriers is simply finding the participants for their trials. Dr. Ramy Saleh, a medical oncologist who is currently working on one of the COVID-19 clinical trials out of the McGill University Health Centre in Montreal, saw that need firsthand and Covidtrials.ca was born.
To be successful, these trials have to recruit thousands of Canadians. People who have been exposed to COVID-19 but show no symptoms. People who have the illness and are convalescing at home. People who have fully recovered from the disease. The list goes on. Every trial needs people who fit a very specific profile.
The Covidtrials.ca hub simplifies the patient recruitment process, making connections happen faster and more easily. The goal is to help our Canadian researchers who are working tirelessly right now on such an important mission.
Prospective volunteers can visit the Covidtrials.ca website and fill out an online registration form with their information. That data is then shared securely with the appropriate research teams, who can then contact the person directly if their profile matches the needs of the trial.
All of the information is stored on a secure cloud platform, housed in Canada. The portal’s governance is overseen by a medical leadership group made up of physicians from across the country.
Covidtrials.ca is non-profit but the initiative needs your support in order to reach as many Canadians as possible.