ECRAID-Prime shares findings at ESCV & ICTMC 2026
Communication and dissemination are an important part of ECRAID-Prime, an ambitious EU-funded project implementing a novel adaptive platform trial in the primary care setting in Europe.
ECRAID-Prime is one of six projects funded by the European Commission’s Horizon Europe programme, aiming to advance therapeutic and vaccine clinical trials for COVID-19 and COVID-like illnesses, contributing to treatment, prevention and pandemic preparedness.
As part of its ongoing dissemination activities, ECRAID-Prime consortium partners are sharing project learnings and outputs at international conferences. This month, two such activities brought ECRAID-Prime’s work to audiences working in clinical virology and clinical trials methodology.
Etiology of respiratory infections in non-hospitalised patients
At the 28th Annual Conference of the European Society for Clinical Virology (ESCV), held from 16 – 19 September in Porto, Portugal, Katherine Loens of the Laboratory of Medical Microbiology at the University of Antwerp presented a poster titled: Etiology of respiratory infections in non-hospitalised patients.
The poster presents baseline etiological data from the platform-randomised trial comparing nasal sprays with usual care in primary care patients with respiratory tract infections. The trial is running across eight countries – Belgium, France, Germany, Georgia, Ireland, Poland, the United Kingdom and Spain.
Between October 2024 and March 2026, 795 patients aged 18 to 93 presenting to primary care with respiratory symptoms of seven days or less were enrolled, with nose and throat swabs collected at baseline and at days 4, 7 and 14. Samples were analysed for 21 respiratory viruses and 5 atypical bacteria.
A respiratory virus was detected in roughly two out of three patients (61.6%), with human rhinovirus, influenza A/B and seasonal coronaviruses the most frequently identified pathogens. Viral co-infections, most often influenza combined with rhinovirus, were found in 5.5% of positive samples.
View the poster
Key learnings from implementing decentralised trial procedures
Emma Harper and Nicky Maeder from the University of Oxford’s Primary Care Clinical Trials Unit presented ECRAID-Prime’s work on decentralised trials at the International Clinical Trials Methodology Conference (ICTMC) on 16 September in Birmingham, UK.
To overcome recruitment challenges in the community-based trial and its short recruitment window, the trial team in the UK implemented decentralised trial procedures, which allowed participants to enrol and complete trial procedures from home. This required an overhaul of existing procedures, and included:
- Telephone screening and online informed consent
- Postal delivery of trial medication and self-sampling kits
- Recruitment that was supported through the NIHR’s Be Part of Research registry, social media and physical posters.
The approach proved effective. Between December 2025 and March 2026, 111 participants were recruited remotely in the UK, compared with 31 through UK general practices. In total, the UK recruited 156 participants, exceeding its country target and becoming the highest-recruiting country in the trial.
The experience provides proof of concept for decentralised approaches in future community-based trials.
Key potential benefits include: reducing participant burden, improving access for marginalised populations, simplifying trial management, shortening set-up time, reducing costs and travel, and supporting pandemic preparedness.
Emma Harper (photographed left) with Nicky Maeder in front of their poster at the ICTMC, says, “It was a valuable opportunity to exchange ideas, discover new resources, and connect with others working in this area – all of which could help shape the next phase of ECRAID-Prime."
View the poster
These activities are part of ECRAID-Prime’s wider efforts to communicate its outputs, share knowledge and contribute to the evidence and expertise needed to strengthen clinical research and outbreak preparedness. Stay tuned for more outputs.