Thousands of the UK’s most vulnerable people receive state-of-the-art COVID-19 treatment at home

The government has announced that thousands of the UK’s most vulnerable people will have access to the world’s first life-saving, state-of-the-art antiviral and antibody treatments from today.

The nationwide survey “PANORAMIC”, which Oxford University is conducting in close cooperation with the GP Hub, has been started, recruiting about 10,000 UK patients at risk of serious illness from COVID-19, and Molnupiravir at home. I have the opportunity to receive treatment for. After having a positive PCR test.

People at highest risk of testing for the virus, such as those with immunodeficiency, cancer, and Down’s syndrome, will also have access to either molnupiravir or the novel monoclonal antibody Ronapreve outside the study from 16 December. increase.

This allows treatment to help protect those most at risk from the virus during the winter, reducing the number of hospitalizations and thus reducing the pressure on the NHS. This is important for people whose immune system is weakened and whose vaccine may be less effective.

Molnupiravir has been shown in clinical trials to reduce the risk of hospitalization or death for unhospitalized adults at risk of mild to moderate COVID-19 by 30%, and Ronapreve reduces the risk by 70%.

Sajid Javid, Minister of Health, said:

The UK is a global leader in the need for innovative treatments, today a historic milestone in the fight against the virus, and the first to be comfortably taken outside the hospital by vulnerable people. Deploy the medicine. Your own home to protect yourself.

This opens a new era in the treatment of COVID-19. This era can begin to cover all stages of this deadly illness. It may require pre-infection, short-term infection, symptoms, or hospital care.

If you qualify, sign up for research as soon as possible and play your part in history. “

The Deputy Chief Medical Officer of Professor Jonathan Van-Tam of the United Kingdom said:

Through this pandemic, we quickly identified some of the world’s best treatments for COVID-19, including dexamethasone, tocilizumab, and sarilumab, and deployed them to patients in the United Kingdom.

Antiviral drugs will be an important intervention over the years to come and help protect people who are unable to respond to the same antibody response to the vaccine.

This is really positive news for the future of our response to COVID-19. If you qualify as soon as possible, sign up for the survey. “

National survey of Molnupiravir

The study, now in molnupiravir, began today to allow healthcare professionals to collect more data on the potential benefits that this treatment will bring to vaccinated patients, and the NHS will bring more patients next year. Helps to plan the deployment of antiviral drugs.

It can be used by anyone in the UK if the following conditions are met:

• Get a positive PCR test.
• I feel sick with the symptoms of COVID-19 that started in the last 5 days.When
• People over the age of 50 or between the ages of 18 and 49 are in underlying health at high risk of severe COVID-19.

If qualified, those who test positive for the PCR will be contacted by the research team or a local health care professional, such as a family doctor, to sign up for the trial. Alternatively, you can sign up from the survey website. It is important to urgently enroll in the study to ensure that eligible participants have access to antiviral treatment within the first 5 days of COVID-19 symptoms.

To participate in the study, participants must complete a 28-day diary from the PANORAMIC website or call the study team on days 7, 14, and 28 to discuss their symptoms. The first results of the trial are expected in early 2022.

Target deployment of Molnupiravir and Ronapreb

For access to treatment outside the study, the people in the highest-risk group will be notified by the NHS if they are eligible for these treatments if they test positive for COVID-19. increase. Eligible cohorts are determined by an independent group of experts commissioned by DHSC and are included in the clinical policy agreed by all four UK Chief Medical Officers.

These patients can maintain their PCR tests at home from NHS Test and Trace to support rapid testing, providing access to treatment as soon as symptoms begin.

Eligible patients who test positive will be evaluated over the phone by a specialist clinician at the NHS COVID Drug Delivery Unit (CMDU) to discuss and discuss the most appropriate treatment for the patient.

Those who are prescribed monoclonal antibody treatment are invited to CMDU, and those who are receiving molnupiravir can have someone collect it or deliver it to their home. The NHS has been installing CMDU since summer.

The government has secured 480,000 courses of Molnupiravir from the pharmaceutical company Merck Sharp and Dohme (MSD). We also have 250,000 courses of the antiviral drug PF-07321332, which is currently undergoing Phase 3 trials.

Eddie Gray, Chair of the Antiviral Task Force, said:

This is an important advance in the treatment of COVID-19 in the United Kingdom and represents an important step in the ambition of the Antiviral Task Force to deploy two new antivirals to patients.

Work is still underway to identify further options as soon as possible-to protect as many vulnerable people as possible across the country. “

Antiviral drugs are treatments used to treat people infected with the virus or to protect exposed people from infection. They target the virus in the early stages and prevent it from progressing to more serious or serious symptoms.

The Antiviral Task Force will continue to consider more options across different antiviral mechanisms. In addition to the activities of the Treatment Task Force, this ensures that as many people as possible are protected from COVID-19, future variants, and other future illnesses.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, the UK has proven to be a global leader in identifying and deploying effective treatments for COVID-19. This includes dexamethasone, the world’s first treatment that has saved more than one million lives worldwide.

The UK’s prestigious Life Sciences Division is an ideal hub for the world’s best innovators to research and advance the cutting-edge treatments for COVID-19 through the clinical trial process here in the UK. ..

Professor Chris Butler, a professor of primary care at the University of Oxford’s Faculty of Primary Care and Health Sciences and a co-principal researcher at PANORAMIC, said:

In a study of a relatively small number of COVID-19-infected individuals who have not yet been vaccinated, large-scale use of these new antivirals can reduce the need for hospitalization and accelerate recovery. The optimistic view is born.

The PANORAMIC trial is largely vaccinated, sufficient to participate in the community, and to generate urgently needed evidence for large-scale early treatment with new antivirals in high-risk people. This is the world’s first research. Complications due to COVID-19. “

Professor Stephen Powis, National Medical Director of NHS England, said:

The deployment of monoclonal antibodies and antivirals is another weapon to reduce the risk that the most at-risk patients become seriously ill and require hospitalization with COVID-19.

This represents another result of the NHS following the world’s leading vaccination program, with 100 million vaccinations in the UK, including over 17 million additional vaccines.

Vaccination is the best way to protect you and your loved ones from COVID-19, and it is highly recommended that you come out before to be vaccinated-that is your first, Whether it’s a second or booster jab. “