The latest findings from the landmark PANORAMIC clinical trial indicate that the antiviral drug known as molnupiravir can offer some long-term benefits to vaccinated adults, the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) has said.
The drug was previously shown to reduce the acute illness episode by approximately four days in the PANORAMIC trial – though it did not significantly reduce hospitalisations or deaths in those aged 50 and older, or over 18s with an underlying health condition.
These new findings indicate that those treated with a five-day course of the drug received modest benefits, with a slight improvement in certain Covid-19 symptoms three and six months after infection – though, again, there was no major difference in hospitalisations over the long term.
New findings
As part of this latest research, more than 23,000 people from the original PANORAMIC study were followed up with to compare the use of molnupiravir with standard care against just standard care alone.
Post three and six months, those given the drug reported:
- slightly higher wellness scores;
- fewer severe symptoms such as fatigue and shortness of breath;
- less use of medications to treat their symptoms; and
- better health-related quality of life.
There was a 2.5% reduction in the risk of reporting persistent symptoms at six months with molnupiravir compared with standard care – from 11% to 8.5%.
Informing policymakers
“These latest findings from the award-winning PANORAMIC study will help policy makers make decisions about the use of antivirals in the treatment of Covid-19,” said Professor Phil Evans, who is deputy health and care director at the NIHR Research Delivery Network.
He added: “PANORAMIC continues to produce important results that will inform the treatment of Covid-19 in many countries across the world. We are enormously grateful to the many thousands of patients who volunteered to take part in this landmark study – and to those GP practices right across the country that helped to deliver it.”
To assess clinical impact, the research team used the ‘number needed to treat’ measure.
The University of Oxford’s Professor Chris Butler, co-chief investigator of PANORAMIC, explained: “The absolute differences at three and six months between participants receiving molnupiravir and those receiving usual care were small which means that large numbers of patients would need to be treated with these expensive drugs to achieve relatively small benefits.
“These findings will be critically important to commissioners of care to inform care guidelines and decision making about the use of these novel agents.”
The latest edition of the National Health Executive digital magazine features a piece from Prof Evans on the key learnings of the delivery of the PANORAMIC trial and how it impacts future pandemic preparedness. Click here to read his exclusive account.
Image credit: iStock
