During this pandemic, a number of clinical trials need to take place, for example, the Scottish National Blood Transfusion Service (SNBTS) has already initiated the collection of plasma from people who have recovered from COVID-19.
When someone recovers from Covid-19, they develop antibodies to fight the virus that causes the illness – SARS-CoV-2. These antibodies can be found in the recovered person’s plasma and should make them immune to future infections of this virus for a period of time.
Other clinical trials include Panoramic and Principle trial, where research is being carried out in an effort to find effective early treatment of Covid-19, in order to try and reduce hospitalisation.
For further information on clinical trials and Coronavirus (Covid-19) research, please visit.
Lead organisation(s)
- Scottish Government
- NHS National Services Scotland (NHS NSS) through the Scottish Blood Transfusion Service
- Territorial Health Boards
- NHS Research Scotland
NHS Research Scotland promotes and supports excellence in clinical and translational research in Scotland so that patients can benefit from new and better treatments. Formed through a partnership of Scottish NHS Boards and the Chief Scientist Office (CSO) of Scottish Government, we work to ensure that NHS Scotland provides the best environment to support clinical research.
What is being done and why?
Recent reports suggest that some patients who are ill with Covid-19 may benefit from a transfusion of plasma manufactured from blood given by eligible donors who have recovered from Covid-19.
The Panoramic and Principle trials are UK-wide clinical studies to find out if the new antiviral treatments and medicines for Covid-19 reduce the need for hospital admission and help people to get better sooner. These trials are open to everyone with ongoing symptoms of Covid-19 and a positive PCR test, regardless of vaccination status.
Further work and research would need to be carried out to find out how effective this would be.
In order to carry out these trials we will need to use some of your data.
What data is used and who is the data controller?
This will vary as every trial is different and is likely to involve different organisations. A Rapid Privacy Assessment must be undertaken to identify what data is used and who is the data controller, followed by well established Information Governance processes already existing across the NHSScotland.
If you participate in this trials, the team inviting you to participate will provide further privacy information. Participation in trials is voluntary and is subject to your agreement.
If you want to donate Convalescent Plasma please refer to The Scottish National Blood Transfusion Service (SNBTS).
We aim to provide further information about other trials taking place. We will continue updating this privacy notice accordingly.
Additional trials
Should additional clinical trials be identified and established, in order to access aggregated anonymous data in relation to the COVID-19 outbreak, a application must be submitted to the Public Benefit and Privacy Panel to ensure that the proposed use of the data is ethical and meets legislative requirements.