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Creation of the RECOVERY trial platform during the COVID-19 pandemic has been a milestone in clinical trial processes. The RECOVERY trial platform has been built on Richard Peto’s promotion since the 1970s of large, simple trials using factorial designs to make more than two treatment comparisons. The RECOVERY trial platform (hereafter ‘RECOVERY’) has extended that model with some novel design features, particularly a very rapid set-up and recruitment process. RECOVERY has set new benchmarks for trial efficiency. Importantly, results obtained through RECOVERY have had a strong impact on clinical practice and clinical guidelines during the COVID-19 pandemic – a feat not achieved during any previous pandemic. In parallel to RECOVERY, WHO has also created and coordinated a large multi-country trial platform with a similar protocol to RECOVERY. By the end of January 2021, WHO’s SOLIDARITY platform had enrolled over 14,000 patients in more than 400 hospitals in over 30 countries, and it has provided by far the most statistically precise estimate of the effects of remdesivir in COVID-19. Interim remdesivir results were published in December 2020 and the final analyses are expected to be published in autumn 2021. At the end of January 2021, trial recruitment using the SOLIDARITY platform was paused to deal with several logistic difficulties, but recruitment resumed in early August 2021. Although the important lessons resulting from the RECOVERY and SOLIDARITY trial platform experiences are similar, in this commentary we focus on RECOVERY. In brief, the ‘Randomised Evaluation of COVID-19 therapy (RECOVERY)’ trial is a randomised, controlled, open-label, adaptive, trial platform enabling comparisons of a range of possible treatments with usual care in patients hospitalised with COVID-19. The initial four experimental arms were: (i) lopinavir-ritonavir (commonly used to treat HIV), (ii) low-dose dexamethasone, (iii) azithromycin (a commonly used antibiotic) and (iv) hydroxychloroquine. Using its adaptive design and successful recruitment, RECOVERY has also already assessed the effects of (v) aspirin, (vi) colchicine, (vii) convalescent plasma, (viii) Regeneron’s monoclonal antibody cocktail and (ix) tocilizumab. As of 15 August 2021, RECOVERY is being used to test (x) baricitinib (an immunomodulatory drug used in rheumatoid arthritis), (xi) dimethyl fumarate (an immunomodulatory drug used in psoriasis and multiple sclerosis) and (xii) high-dose vs. standard dose of corticosteroids. The RECOVERY protocol is available for use by investigators everywhere to design their own randomised trials to help identify treatments for COVID-19 with important beneficial effects. https://www.isrctn. com/ISRCTN50189673 Some special features of RECOVERY include: