The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has led to major disruption in most aspects of human activity, including clinical trials. Normal social and professional interactions were severely limited, particularly during ‘lockdowns’. Attempting to mitigate the effects of the pandemic on clinical trials for conditions other than COVID-19, regulatory authorities, including the European Medicines Agency (EMA) and the Food & Drug Administration (FDA), issued guidance to trialists and sponsors that was designed to protect both participants and research staff and to maintain the scientific integrity of their efforts.1–3 Professional medical associations (including the European Society of Cardiology) also published consensus statements with suggestions on how to navigate through the problems that pandemics, such as COVID-19, pose to clinical trials..