Pill to reduce symptoms of Covid may be ready by Autumn
At-home Covid-19 treatments could be rolled out as early as autumn, Boris Johnson has announced.
A new antivirals taskforce will be launched to ‘supercharge’ the UK’s efforts to tackle new variants and will look at creating medicine patients can take from home.
The prime minister said experts will look into new antiviral treatments to ‘stop Covid-19 in its tracks’ with the hopes of offering two types of medicine – likely in pill form – online by the end of the year.
Such treatment may be offered to people who have tested positive, or have been in close contact with someone who has, to those who cannot take Covid-19 vaccines and others who have not yet received their second dose of the jab.
Speaking at a Downing Street press briefing on Tuesday, the prime minister told the nation ‘we must learn to live’ with coronavirus as ‘we live with other diseases’.
The PM said: ‘The UK was the first country in the world to pioneer dexamethasone which has saved a million lives globally and today, we’re creating a new antivirals taskforce to search for the most promising new medicines and support their development through clinical trials with the aim of making them safely and rapidly available as early as the autumn.
‘This means, for example, that if you test positive there might be a tablet you could take at home to stop the virus in its tracks and significantly reduce the chance of infection turning into more severe disease.
‘Or if you’re living with someone who has tested positive, there might be a pill you could take for a few days to stop you getting the disease yourself.’
It is hoped antiviral medicines will help keep transmission rates down and limit the impact of any new variants.
The Government’s chief scientific adviser, Sir Patrick Vallance, said: ‘The speed at which vaccines and therapeutics such as dexamethasone have been identified and deployed against Covid-19 has been critical to the pandemic response.
‘Antivirals in tablet form are another key tool for the response.’
Mr Johnson told the press conference that the country’s road map out of lockdown remains on track, despite admitting it was highly likely that there will be a third wave.
There is currently ‘nothing in the data’ to suggest ministers will have to deviate from plans set out to gradually ease restrictions, he said.
The PM added: ‘We don’t yet know the full extent of the protection that we’re building up (from vaccines), the exact strength of our defences.
‘And as we look at what’s happening in other countries with cases now at record numbers, around the world, we cannot delude ourselves that Covid has gone away.’
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