A Phase 3 interventional study of Remdesivir and Lopinavir/ritonavir in Corona Virus Infection, sponsored by Institut National de la Santé Et de la Recherche Médicale, France. Completed at 62 sites in 7 countries. Open to participants aged 18 Years and older. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2026-07-08.
Sponsored by Institut National de la Santé Et de la Recherche Médicale, France · Phase 3, Interventional, and Treatment
DisCoVeRy is a randomized controlled trial among adults (≥18-year-old) hospitalized for COVID-19. This study is an adaptive, randomized, open or blinded, depending on the drug to be evaluated, clinical trial to evaluate the safety and efficacy of possible therapeutic agents in hospitalized adult patients diagnosed with COVID-19. The study is a multi-centre/country trial that will be conducted in various sites in Europe with Inserm as sponsor. The study will compare different investigational therapeutic agents to a control group managed with the SoC including corticosteroids and anticoagulants. There will be interim monitoring to allow early stopping for safety and to introduce new therapies as they become available. If one therapy proves to be superior to others in the trial, this treatment may become part of the SoC for comparison(s) with new experimental treatment(s).
In previous versions of the DisCoVeRy protocol, remdesivir, lopinavir/ritonavir with or without interferon ß-1a and hydroxychloroquine were evaluated as potential treatments for COVID-19. These treatments have been discontinued based on analyses review by both DSMC/DSMB, the Solidarity Executive Group and the DisCoVeRy steering committee.
This version of the protocol, therefore, describes a randomized blinded placebo-controlled trial among adults (≥18-year-old) hospitalized for COVID-19 that randomly allocates them (1:1 ratio) between 2 arms: SoC + placebo versus SoC + AZD7442.
Randomization will be stratified by region (according to the administrative definition in each country), antigenic status (positive or negative) obtained from the result of a rapid antigen test on nasopharyngeal swab performed at enrolment and vaccination initiation (yes or no).
The primary analyses will be conducted on patients with antigen-positive results. A positive antigenic test is evidence of high viral shedding consistent with a recently started or uncontrolled infection. Overall, the number of antigen-negative patients will be at most 30% of all included subjects. The number of patients with vaccination (partly or fully) will be limited to 20% of all participants, split evenly between antigen positive and antigen negative patients (i.e. vaccinated patients can make up at most 20% of antigene positive patients and 20% of antigene negative patients). Sensitivity analyses will be performed in all patients, stratified by antigenic status and vaccination initiation.
A global independent data and safety monitoring board (DSMB) monitors interim data to make recommendations about early study closure or changes to conduct, including adding or removing treatment arms. However, the current version of the protocol does not allow for efficacy or futility analysis, and the ability to add trial arms will be limited by the study being blinded and placebo-controlled during the investigation of AZD7442.
DisCoVeRy is a randomized controlled trial among adults (≥18-year-old) hospitalized for COVID-19. This study is an adaptive, randomized, open or blinded, depending on the drug to be evaluated, clinical trial to evaluate the safety and efficacy of possible therapeutic agents in hospitalized adult patients diagnosed with COVID-19. The study is a multi-centre/country trial that will be conducted in various sites in Europe with Inserm as sponsor. The study will compare different investigational therapeutic agents to a control group managed with the SoC including corticosteroids and anticoagulants. There will be interim monitoring to allow early stopping for safety and to introduce new therapies as they become available. If one therapy proves to be superior to others in the trial, this treatment may become part of the SoC for comparison(s) with new experimental treatment(s).
In previous versions of the DisCoVeRy protocol, remdesivir, lopinavir/ritonavir with or without interferon ß-1a and hydroxychloroquine were evaluated as potential treatments for COVID-19. These treatments have been discontinued based on analyses review by both DSMC/DSMB, the Solidarity Executive Group and the DisCoVeRy steering committee.
This version of the protocol, therefore, describes a randomized blinded placebo-controlled trial among adults (≥18-year-old) hospitalized for COVID-19 that randomly allocates them (1:1 ratio) between 2 arms: SoC + placebo versus SoC + AZD7442.
Randomization will be stratified by region (according to the administrative definition in each country), antigenic status (positive or negative) obtained from the result of a rapid antigen test on nasopharyngeal swab performed at enrolment and vaccination initiation (yes if at least one injection of any vaccine against SARS-CoV-2 was reveived prior to enrolment whatever the delay or no).
The primary analyses will be conducted on patients with antigen-positive results. A positive antigenic test is evidence of high viral shedding consistent with a recently started or uncontrolled infection. Overall, the number of antigen-negative patients will be at most 30% of all included subjects. The number of patients with vaccination (partly or fully) will be limited to 20% of all participants, split evenly between antigen positive and antigen negative patients (i.e. vaccinated patients can make up at most 20% of antigene positive patients and 20% of antigene negative patients). Sensitivity analyses will be performed in all patients, stratified by antigenic status and vaccination initiation.
A global independent data and safety monitoring board (DSMB) monitors interim data to make recommendations about early study closure or changes to conduct, including adding or removing treatment arms. However, the current version of the protocol does not allow for efficacy or futility analysis, and the ability to add trial arms will be limited by the study being blinded and placebo-controlled during the investigation of AZD7442.
All subjects will undergo a series of efficacy and safety assessments, including laboratory assays.
Subjects will be assessed at baseline, and at Days 3, 8 and 15 while hospitalized. Patients will be contacted by phone at Day 15 for evaluation of the Primary Endpoint if they have been discharged prior to Day 15-, and 14-days following hospital discharge for efficacy assessment.
Further follow-up assessments will be organized at Days 29, 90, 180, 365 and 456.
If discharged from the hospital, days 29 and 90 assessments will be organized as outpatients' consultations for all. For Days 180 and 365 assessments, a subset of 25% of patients enrolled in centers with available resources and selected at Day 90 will be evaluated during a medical consultation, while the other will be contacted by phone. For Day 456, all patients will be contacted by phone.
Nasopharyngeal swabs (NP) or lower respiratory tract samples will be obtained at baseline (Day 1 pre-treatment) and at Days 3, 8, 15 (while hospitalized) and 29 (while hospitalized or, if discharged from the hospital, in the outpatient setting).
Blood samples will be obtained at baseline (Day 1 pre-treatment) and at Days 3, 8, 15 (while hospitalized), at Days 29 and 90, and at Days 180 and 365 (for the subset of patients evaluated during a medical consultation at these times).
Thoracic computed tomography (CT)-scan will be obtained at baseline, depending on the centre's imagery capacities.
7,990 studies on the registry are indexed under COVID-19; 466 are open to participants now.
This study's enrollment of 1,552 is above the median of 102 across 4,364 interventional studies indexed under COVID-19.
Browse COVID-19 studies →Institut National de la Santé Et de la Recherche Médicale, France is the lead sponsor of 378 studies on the registry; 81 are open to participants now.
Compared within COVID-19, this study's primary condition as ClinicalTrials.gg classifies it; the registry's first condition term is Coronavirus Infections. The counts are of registry records indexed under each term, refreshed daily. How we classify →
Go through the criteria one by one — yes, no or not sure — and take the list to your doctor or the study team. Kept in this browser only.
Hospitalized patients with any of the following criteria:
use by men or women.
Exclusion Criteria:
Underlined terms in the criteria open these too. Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Ways of preventing pregnancy. “Highly effective” methods fail less than 1% of the time a year when used correctly — for example an IUD or an implant.
Criteria usually say which methods count and how long to keep using them after the last dose, sometimes for male participants too. Some studies accept a partner’s vasectomy if it was confirmed successful and that person is the participant’s only sexual partner.
Able to become pregnant: from the first period until menopause, unless permanently unable to through surgery (removal of the womb, or of both ovaries or both fallopian tubes).
Criteria for people of childbearing potential usually ask for a negative pregnancy test and for contraception during the study and for a time after it.
Two enzymes measured in a routine blood test of the liver. Higher levels can mean the liver is under strain or damaged. SGPT and SGOT are older names for ALT and AST.
Criteria usually give a limit as a multiple of the upper limit of normal (ULN), often higher when cancer has spread to the liver.
The top of the normal range for a blood test, as set by the laboratory that runs it. Each lab prints its own range next to your result.
“≤ 2.5 × ULN” means the result can be up to two and a half times that top value.
GFR (glomerular filtration rate) is how much blood the kidneys filter each minute. It is usually estimated from a blood test — eGFR, by formulas such as CKD-EPI or MDRD — and some studies ask for it to be measured directly instead. Usually given in mL/min/1.73 m².
Check the method, the units and the minimum the study states. A value of 90 or above is in the normal-or-high range, but kidney damage can show in other tests too.
An allergy, or another reaction of the immune system, to a substance. “Hypersensitivity to the study drug” means a known allergic reaction to it — not every side effect a medicine can have.
A drug or device being studied in a clinical trial.
It may be new, or already approved and being studied for another use, dose or form. Criteria often leave out people who took part in another study of one within a recent period, commonly 30 days or five half-lives.
Contraception
Ways of preventing pregnancy. “Highly effective” methods fail less than 1% of the time a year when used correctly — for example an IUD or an implant.
Criteria usually say which methods count and how long to keep using them after the last dose, sometimes for male participants too. Some studies accept a partner’s vasectomy if it was confirmed successful and that person is the participant’s only sexual partner.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Childbearing potential
Able to become pregnant: from the first period until menopause, unless permanently unable to through surgery (removal of the womb, or of both ovaries or both fallopian tubes).
Criteria for people of childbearing potential usually ask for a negative pregnancy test and for contraception during the study and for a time after it.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
ALT and AST (liver enzymes)
Two enzymes measured in a routine blood test of the liver. Higher levels can mean the liver is under strain or damaged. SGPT and SGOT are older names for ALT and AST.
Criteria usually give a limit as a multiple of the upper limit of normal (ULN), often higher when cancer has spread to the liver.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
ULN (upper limit of normal)
The top of the normal range for a blood test, as set by the laboratory that runs it. Each lab prints its own range next to your result.
“≤ 2.5 × ULN” means the result can be up to two and a half times that top value.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
GFR and eGFR (kidney filtering)
GFR (glomerular filtration rate) is how much blood the kidneys filter each minute. It is usually estimated from a blood test — eGFR, by formulas such as CKD-EPI or MDRD — and some studies ask for it to be measured directly instead. Usually given in mL/min/1.73 m².
Check the method, the units and the minimum the study states. A value of 90 or above is in the normal-or-high range, but kidney damage can show in other tests too.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Hypersensitivity
An allergy, or another reaction of the immune system, to a substance. “Hypersensitivity to the study drug” means a known allergic reaction to it — not every side effect a medicine can have.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Investigational drug or device
A drug or device being studied in a clinical trial.
It may be new, or already approved and being studied for another use, dose or form. Criteria often leave out people who took part in another study of one within a recent period, commonly 30 days or five half-lives.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Remdesivir will be administered as a 200 mg intravenous loading dose on Day 1, followed by a 100 mg once-daily intravenous maintenance dose for the duration of the hospitalization up to a 10 days total course. n=475
Drug: Remdesivir · Other: Standard of care
Lopinavir/ritonavir (400 lopinavir mg/100 mg ritonavir) will be administered every 12 h for 14 days in tablet form. For patients who are unable to take medications by mouth, the lopinavir/ritonavir (400 lopinavir mg/100 mg ritonavir) will be administered as a 5-ml suspension every 12 h for 14 days via a pre-existing or newly placed nasogastric tube. n=620
Drug: Lopinavir/ritonavir · Other: Standard of care
Lopinavir/ritonavir (400 lopinavir mg/100 mg ritonavir) will be administered every 12 h for 14 days in tablet form. For patients who are unable to take medications by mouth, the lopinavir/ritonavir (400 lopinavir mg/100 mg ritonavir) will be administered as a 5-ml suspension every 12 h for 14 days via a pre-existing or newly placed nasogastric tube. Interferon ß1a will be administered subcutaneously at the dose of 44 µg for a total of 3 doses in 6 days (day 1, day 3, day 6). n=620
Drug: Lopinavir/ritonavir · Drug: Interferon Beta-1A · Other: Standard of care
Hydroxychloroquine will be administered orally as a loading dose of 400 mg twice daily for one day followed by 400 mg once daily for 9 days. The loading dose of hydroxychloroquine through a nasogastric tube will be increased to 600 mg twice a day for one day, followed by a maintenance dose of 400 mg once a day for 9 days n=620
Drug: Hydroxychloroquine · Other: Standard of care
Standard of care alone before March, 2021.
Other: Standard of care
Participants randomized to the AZD7442 group will receive a total dose of 600 mg AZD7442 via a co-administered (300 mg AZD8895 and 300 mg AZD1061) single IV infusion on Day 1. n=620
Other: Standard of care · Drug: AZD7442
Standard of care with placebo since April, 2021 n=620
Other: Standard of care · Other: Placebo
The lyophilized formulation of Remdesivir is a preservative-free, white to off-white or yellow, lyophilized solid containing 100 mg of Remdesivir to be reconstituted with 19 mL of sterile water for injection and diluted into IV infusion fluids prior to IV infusion. Following reconstitution, each vial contains a 5 mg/mL Remdesivir concentrated solution with sufficient volume to allow withdrawal of 20 mL (100 mg of remdesivir). It is supplied as a sterile product in a single-use, 30 mL, Type 1 clear glass vial.
The oral tablets of lopinavir/ritonavir contain 200 mg lopinavir, 50 mg ritonavir. They have a yellow colour, film-coated, ovaloid shape debossed with the "a" logo and the code KA. The oral solution for patients who cannot swallow is a light yellow to orange colored liquid containing 400 mg lopinavir and 100 mg ritonavir per 5 mL (80 mg lopinavir and 20 mg ritonavir per mL).
IFN-ß-1a is supplied as a sterile solution containing no preservative available in a prefilled syringe. It will be provided as a single-dose prefilled graduated syringe with 44 µg per 0.5 mL. The liquid should be clear to slightly yellow. Do not use if the liquid is cloudy, discolored or contains particles. Use a different syringe.
Hydroxychloroquine is supplied as film-coated 200 mg tablets. Hydroxychloroquine sulfate tablets are presented as white or whitish, peanut-shaped, oblong or round film-coated tablets containing 200 mg of hydroxychloroquine sulfate (equivalent to 155 mg base).
Standard of care
AZD7442 will be supplied as separate vials of AZD8895 and AZD1061 containing 150 mg colorless to slightly yellow, clear to opalescent solutions for injection.
Since April, 2021, the placebo will be a 0.9% (w/v) NaCl solution for infusion also called saline. The placebo will be supplied as a single 10-mL, clear and colorless vial.
Percentage of subjects reporting each severity rating on a 7-point ordinal scale
1. Not hospitalized, no limitations on activities 2. Not hospitalized, limitation on activities; 3. Hospitalized, not requiring supplemental oxygen; 4. Hospitalized, requiring supplemental oxygen; 5. Hospitalized, on non-invasive ventilation or high flow oxygen devices; 6. Hospitalized, on invasive mechanical ventilation or ECMO; 7. Death.
Time frame: Day 15
Status on an ordinal scale
Percentage of subjects reporting each severity rating on a 7-point on an ordinal scale
Time frame: Days 29, 90, 180 and 365
National Early Warning Score 2 (NEWS-2 score)
Change from baseline in NEWS-2.
Time frame: Days 3, 8, 15, and 29
Number of oxygenation free days in the first 28 days
Time frame: 29 days
Incidence of new oxygen use, non-invasive ventilation or high flow oxygen devices during the trial.
Time frame: 29 days
Ventilator free days in the first 28 days
Time frame: 29 days
Incidence of new mechanical ventilation use during the trial.
Time frame: 29 days
Need for mechanical ventilation or death by Day 15
Proportion of patients with mechanical ventilation or death at day 15
Time frame: Day 15
Hospitalization
Time to hospital discharge (days).
Time frame: 29 days
Mortality
Rate of mortality
Time frame: In hospital, Days 29, 90, 180, 365, 456
Occurrence of new hospitalization
Time frame: Days 90, 180 and 365
Occurrence of confirmed re-infection with SARS-CoV-2
Time frame: Days 90, 180 and 365
Cumulative incidence of serious adverse events (SAEs)
Time frame: 29 days
Cumulative incidence of Grade 1- 2 hypersensitivity- related and infusion related AEs until D29 visit
Time frame: 29 days
Cumulative incidence of Grade 3 and 4 adverse events (AEs)
Time frame: 29 days
Number of participants with a discontinuation or temporary suspension of study drugs (for any reason)
Time frame: 29 days
Cumulative incidence of AEs of Special Interest
Time frame: 29 days
Percent of subjects with SARS-CoV-2 detectable in nasopharyngeal sample
Time frame: Days 3, 5, 8, 11, 15, 29
Quantitative SARS-CoV-2 virus in nasopharyngeal sample
Time frame: Days 3, 5, 8, 11, 15, 29
Quantitative SARS-CoV-2 virus in blood
Time frame: Days 3, 8
Plan to share: Yes — Study protocol and statistical analysis plan will be available. Systematic individual patient data sharing is not intended, but all requests for the trial's data will be considered by the French DisCoVeRy Trial Management Team.
Supporting information: Study protocol, Statistical analysis plan
Time frame: Study protocol and statistical analysis plan will be available from September 2020 with no time limit. Other data will be available upon request after first publication of the results for at least 5 years
Access criteria: Study protocol and statistical analysis plan will be published. All requests for the trial's data will be considered by the French DisCoVeRy Trial Management Team that can be contacted via the principal investigator: florence.ader@chu-lyon.fr
Ran from Mar 2020 to primary completion in Jul 2022, 27 months.
Of 285 non-industry phase 3 interventional studies under COVID-19, half reached primary completion within 10 months of starting (the median), counting those still running; a quarter within 5 and three quarters within 19. This study's 27 months is above that.
Counting every sponsor, half of 453 studies reached it within 9 months; a quarter within 4 and three quarters within 17.
How these figures are worked out, and which studies are left out of them.
This study is completed, as verified in Jul 2026. You cannot join it, but the record below documents what was studied.
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Studies of the drugs tested here: Remdesivir · Interferon beta-1a · Hydroxychloroquine
Institut National de la Santé Et de la Recherche Médicale, France →