Antiviral agents

Community pharmacies to supply antiviral treatments to high-risk COVID-19 patients

Scottish community pharmacies will be able to dispense the antiviral molnupiravir to patients at high risk of severe illness or death from COVID-19.…

COVID-19 antiviral trial recruits more than 350 patients as community treatment is rolled out

As soon as they test positive for COVID-19, eligible patients are being encouraged to sign up to the PANORAMIC study, which is investigating the effects of molnupiravir.…

Antivirals for COVID-19: five questions that must be answered

The UK government has secured 730,000 doses of two new oral antivirals that it hopes will help to stop COVID-19 in its tracks and keep vulnerable people out of hospital this winter.…

‘Magic blankets’: a new classification of drugs that could help tackle future pandemics

In new pandemics, we won't have time to find 'magic bullets' — we need to build an armoury of broad-spectrum therapeutics that combat a range of pathogens.…

Antivirals have little effect on mortality in patients hospitalised with COVID-19, suggest WHO trial interim results

Four repurposed antiviral treatments for COVID-19 have little or no effect on mortality in patients who are hospitalised, interim results from the World Health Organization’s Solidarity trial have suggested.…

EMA to investigate possible link between remdesivir and acute kidney injury

The European Medicines Agency’s safety committee is to review reports of acute kidney injury in some patients being given remdesivir for COVID-19.…

Government tightens availability of remdesivir treatment for COVID-19 patients as supplies shrink

Patients with COVID-19 across the UK will now have to meet additional criteria before being prescribed remdesivir as supplies of the drug become limited.…

Almost all patients who used pharmacy sore throat test and treat service would choose service again

Nearly 100% of patients who accessed a community pharmacy sore throat test and treat service said they would return to their pharmacy for subsequent sore throat symptoms, a survey has found.…

Lopinavir/ritonavir ‘not effective’ for patients hospitalised with COVID-19, third set of RECOVERY trial results show

An antiviral treatment commonly used to treat HIV has been found to have no beneficial effect in patients hospitalised with COVID-19, according to the third set of results to come out of the ‘Randomised Evaluation of COVID-19 Therapy’ trial. …

No improvement in mortality rates for COVID-19 patients treated with remdesivir

There are “no statistically significant differences” for mortality and serious adverse events in COVID-19 patients treated with remdesivir, a rapid evidence review carried out by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence has concluded.…