The efficacy of a single dose of pegylated interferon lambda in preventing clinical events among outpatients with acute symptomatic coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) is unclear.

In 2020, clinical trial researchers developed protocols to evaluate the safety and effectiveness of potential treatments for COVID-19. Despite more than 3,000 trials registered , few have generated findings, with the exception of smaller randomized controlled trials.A clinical trial infrastructure (defined as the human, material, and knowledge networks that form a responsive implementation of productive trial protocols) must be resilient to threats (e.g., COVID-19), and is essential when barriers to sustainable funding are common.

Interferon (IFN) therapies are used to treat a variety of infections and diseases and could be used to treat SARS-CoV-2. However, optimal use and timing of IFN therapy to treat SARS-CoV-2 is not well documented. We aimed to synthesize available evidence to understand whether interferon therapy should be recommended for treatment compared to a placebo or standard of care in adult patients.While IFN therapy has the potential to be a viable treatment for SARS-CoV-2, especially when combined with antivirals and early administration, the lack of comparable of study outcomes prevents evidence synthesis and uptake.