Platform trials, using adaptive methodologies, have played an important role in the research response to COVID-19, and offer prospect of being widely used in future pandemic preparedness and response. As these relatively new methodologies raise a number of ethical and governance challenges, in early 2022 the Health Ethics and Governance Unit of the World Health Organization commissioned five rapid reviews, with the aim of learning from, and building on, experiences during the pandemic. These reviews covered the role and policy impact of adaptive platform trials during COVID-19; selected ethical challenges associated with adaptive design; implications for consent and public engagement; impact on equity in transnational partnerships; and implications for governance and oversight.

 A 2-day meeting between the authors of the reviews and WHO staff took place in Geneva on the 18-19 July 2022 in order to explore cross-cutting themes and identify remaining evidence gaps. The report is now available below: