Previously, only those with Covid-19 aged 50 or over and at most risk of complications from the illness were eligible to join the PRINCIPLE trial. Participants are only eligible to join the trial during the first 14 days of Covid-19 illness. Since launching in March 2020, PRINCIPLE has so far recruited more than 4400 volunteers from across the UK, making it the largest trial of Covid-19 treatments to take place in community settings. The government-funded PRINCIPLE trial presents an exciting opportunity to find treatments outside of hospital, stopping people’s symptoms from worsening at an earlier stage of the disease. The PRINCIPLE trial has so far determined that the antibiotics azithromycin and doxycycline are not effective treatments during the early stages of Covid-19.
