Thousands more patients to access second ground-breaking antiviral

Today the Government has announced that thousands more vulnerable people will gain access to the UK’s second antiviral treatment, as we all learn to live with Covid while long-term protection is offered for the most vulnerable.

As we learn to live with Covid, the UK continue to lead the way in using cutting-edge treatments which have already saved the lives of many of the most vulnerable patients.

That is why the Government has announced trailed access to the UK’s second antiviral treatment, Paxlovid, for vulnerable patients over 50 who are willing to participate in the vital study. Paxlovid reduced the risk of hospitalisation or death by 88 per cent clinical trials and is already available directly through the NHS to highest-risk patients.

Paxlovid has been added to the PANORAMIC national study, the UK’s fastest-ever recruiting clinical trial of its kind, which is run by the University of Oxford in close collaboration with GP hubs. It is already available directly through the NHS to those whose immune systems mean they are at higher risk of serious illness who test positive for the virus – including those who are immunocompromised, cancer patients, or those with Down’s Syndrome.

The PANORAMIC study makes antivirals available to a large number of patients, whilst collecting further data on how the antivirals work where the majority of the adult population is vaccinated. It ensures antivirals are being used in the most effective way and is crucial in ensuring clinicians have the full information to prescribe antiviral treatments to patients in future.

The study is open to adults over the age of 50 or those aged 18 to 49 with an underlying health condition that can increase the risk of developing severe Covid, who have received a positive Covid test result, and who are experiencing symptoms that started in the previous five days.

In just over three months, more than 20,000 patients have joined the nation-wide study to help generate vital data on molnupiravir, the first oral antiviral to be made available. The introduction of Paxlovid will allow a further 17,500 patients to enrol to access this ground-breaking treatment, which has been shown to reduce the relative risk of death or hospitalisation by 88% in clinical trials.
 
The UK has procured more antivirals per head than any other country in Europe, as antivirals are key to offering early protections against the virus and helping the most vulnerable to live with Covid.

For further information on this announcement, please visit: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/thousands-more-patients-to-access-second-ground-breaking-antiviral