Clinical trials during pandemics and beyond: Time for a more efficient pharmacological strategy

Abstract

During the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic, clinical trials on antiviral or symptomatic drugs have been conducted very rapidly even for drugs with a poor pharmacological rationale for efficacy on SARS-CoV-2. Despite lacking basic pharmacological information, most of these clinical trials were also extremely redundant. Applying simple rules, (such as identifying a mechanistic rationale, confirming the ability to reach exposure targets at therapeutic dosage and ensuring tests show drug efficacy in appropriate in vitro and animal models before entering clinical trials) might have saved considerable amounts of time and money, and might have avoided useless research. Moreover, combining these simple rules with the implementation of a relevant policy at both an international and a national level, by limiting studies with a poor methodological/scientific approach and aggregating studies with similar design into single clinical trials, is potentially a far more-efficient strategy.