Government to develop take-at-home Covid-19 treatments by end of year
The government has today launched a new “Antivirals Taskforce” to develop Covid-19 treatments that patients can take at home.
By the end of the year, the new initiative is aiming to have created two effective treatments that the public can take either in tablet or capsule form.
It is hoped that after clinical trials, these treatments will be made available to patients by the autumn.
The taskforce will also look at how it can ensure that the manufacture of such treatments can be kept in the UK, following the recent disputes with the EU over vaccine manufacture.
Speaking at a press conference this evening, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said that these new treatments would be a “further line of defence” against the disease.
He added that there was “nothing in the data” to suggest there would be any need to deviate from the current roadmap out of lockdown.
However, Johnson also said that “we cannot delude ourselves” that the disease has gone away yet, despite the fall in cases and deaths in the UK.
A further 33 people died have died of the disease in the last 24 hours, up from four on Monday. There were an additional 2,524 daily cases of the disease.
As of this afternoon, 33m people have now been given a first dose of a coronavirus vaccine. 60 per cent of 45 to 49-year-olds, the latest group to be offered a vaccine, have come forward for their jabs, Johnson said.
“The success of our vaccination programme has demonstrated what the UK can achieve when we bring together our brightest minds”, he said.
“Our new Antivirals Taskforce will seek to develop innovative treatments you can take at home to stop Covid-19 in its tracks. These could provide another vital defence against any future increase in infections and save more lives.”
Dr Nikki Kanani, medical director of primary care for NHS England, said that steroid Budesonide was one treatment that was being looked into.
The UK has already identified a number of treatments that have helped to reduce the risk of serious illness and death from Covid-19, including steroids dexamethasone and tocilizumab.
Health secretary Matt Hancock said the former drug had already saved 22,000 lives in the UK and 1m more around the world.
He added: “Modelled on the success of the vaccines and therapeutics taskforces, which have played a crucial part in our response to the pandemic, we are now bringing together a new team that will supercharge the search for antiviral treatments and roll them out as soon as the Autumn.
“I am committed to boosting the UK’s position as a life science superpower and this new taskforce will help us beat Covid-19 and build back better.”
The new antivirals could be used alone or in combination with one another in order to increase effectiveness and reduce the risk of further mutations.