University of Liverpool launched an innovative COVID-19 drug testing platform, AGILE

AGILE is a ”proof of confidence engine’ that can treat COVID-19 patients for the first time with promising drugs that have been developed in laboratories around the world

In the hope of accelerating the development of the most promising therapies, the University of Liverpool, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine and Southampton Clinical Trials Unit have launched an innovative COVID-19 drug testing platform, AGILE.

This clinical trial platform is developed by infectious diseases clinicians, clinical and preclinical pharmacologists, clinical trials specialists and statisticians to test new drugs for COVID-19 and identify compounds which could be game-changers in the fight against the virus.

In the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, we need to find innovative ways to identify safe and effective treatments as soon as possible. The AGILE platform bridges the gap between preclinical drug discovery and large-scale testing, rapidly identifying drugs that have the best chance of success,” according to Professor Saye Khoo, chief investigator on AGILE at the University of Liverpool.

Adding more, the scientists from Liverpool say that AGILE is a ‘proof of confidence engine’ that can treat COVID-19 patients for the first time with promising drugs that have been developed in laboratories around the world.

The trial is conducted at the Royal Liverpool University Hospital Clinical Research Unit, where treatment is carefully monitored throughout by an independent committee to ensure that it is safe to continue, and the first evidence about the effectiveness of the drug for the treatment of COVID-19 is accumulated to determine if it should be fast-tracked into large-scale trials.