A new anti-viral, Paxlovid, has recently been added to the PANORAMIC national study in the UK.
Thousands more vulnerable people in England are now eligible to receive the UK’s second oral antiviral treatment for COVID-19. Paxlovid reduced the risk of hospitalisation or death by 88% in clinical trials and is already available directly through the NHS to highest-risk patients. The UK has procured more antivirals per head than any other country in Europe with over 4.98 million courses ordered so far.
The PANORAMIC national study is the UK’s fastest-ever recruiting clinical trial of its kind, 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 while 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 addition of Paxlovid to the ground-breaking PANORAMIC study is an important milestone and will help us understand who benefits most from these treatments.’ - UK Health and Social Care Secretary Sajid Javid
While vaccines remain the most important first line of defence, antivirals target the virus at an early stage, preventing progression to more severe, or even critical, symptoms.
The UK government has secured 2.75 million courses of Paxlovid (PF-07321332 and ritonavir), made by Pfizer. Those who enrol in the PANORAMIC study will be randomly allocated to receive either an antiviral treatment in addition to standard NHS care, or standard NHS care only.
As a study in our manifest, Spiral has now added Paxlovid to the PANORAMIC Trial platform. For Spiral and the team, this means lots of coding and extensions to the database to get everything ready for randomising. We’re so excited to see the growth in this study! Watch this space as we bring you more news on this aspect of the trial as it develops!
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