Thousands more vulnerable people in England are now eligible to receive the UK’s second oral antiviral treatment for COVID-19.
In clinical trials, ‘Paxlovid’ reduced the risk of hospitalisation or death by 88 per cent, and it’s already available through the NHS to highest-risk patients. But it’s now been added to a national study, run by the University of Oxford in close collaboration with GP hubs. And that makes it available to a large number of patients, allowing further data on how the antivirals work.
The study is open to adults over the age of 50 or those aged 18 to 49 years old with an underlying health condition, who have received a positive COVID-19 test result and who are experiencing symptoms that started in the previous five days.
In just three months, more than 20,000 patients joined the study to help gather data on the first oral antiviral to be made available, ‘Molnupiravir’. Adding Paxlovid to the study will allow an additional 17,500 patients to enrol to access the treatment.
You can read more about the study on the government’s website.