(CNN) — The World Health Organization announced on Friday that the first patients enrolled in its Solidarity trial, which will examine potential treatment options for Covid-19, will be based in Norway and Spain. The first patient enrolled in the trial is at the University of Oslo in Norway.
“We are delighted to announced that today in Norway and Spain, the first patients will shortly be enrolled in the Solidarity trial, which will compare the safety and effectiveness of four different drugs or drug combinations against Covid-19,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said.
“This is a historic trial which will dramatically cut the time needed to generate robust evidence about what drugs work. Over 45 countries are contributing to the trial and more have expressed interest,” Tedros said. “The more countries who join the trial, the faster we will have results.”
WHO announced last week that it had organized the trial to test coronavirus treatment approaches across several countries and compare data to find which treatments may be most effective. When the announcement was made, WHO noted that many countries agreed to join the trial, including Argentina, Bahrain, Canada, France, Iran, Norway, South Africa, Spain, Switzerland and Thailand.
