Selected NHScoronavirus patients will soon be able to access an experimental treatment to speed up their recovery, with the health secretary Matt Hancock suggesting it is probably “the biggest step forward’’ in medication since the beginning of the Covid-19 crisis.
The anti-viral drug remdesivir will be made available to patients meeting certain clinical criteria to support their recovery in hospital.
The drug is currently undergoing clinical trials around the world, including in the UK, and peer-reviewed data showed it can shorten the time to recovery by about four days.
Mr Hancock told the daily Downing Street press conference: “There have already been some promising early results on coronavirus patients ... This is probably the biggest step forward in the treatment of coronavirus since the crisis began.
“These are very early steps, but we are determined to support the science and back the projects that show promise.”
Treatment will initially be prioritised for patients who have the greatest likelihood of deriving the most benefit, according to the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC).
The government is working in collaboration with the drug’s manufacturer Gilead Sciences to supply the NHS with remdesivir, but the DHSC did not say how many patients would be treated under the arrangement.
“This shows fantastic progress,” said Lord Bethell, minister for innovation, who added that the government “will continue to monitor remdesivir’s success in clinical trials across the country to ensure the best results for UK patients”.
Satisfied the drug can help boost recovery, the government’s Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) approved the use of remdesivir through its early access to medicines scheme.
The experimental anti-viral drug was granted emergency authorisation to treat Covid-19 in the US by the Food and Drug Administration earlier this month.
It followed a US clinical trial that showed the drug improved outcomes for those with severe Covid-19. The US National Institutes of Health released data indicating that the drug reduced the duration of hospital stays by 31 per cent compared with a placebo treatment.
Remdesivir was created by biopharmaceutical company Gilead Science, which has pledged to donate 1.5 million vials of the drug to help patients in hospitals in the US cities hardest hit by the coronavirus.
The drug was originally developed to treat Ebola. It is designed to block some viruses – including the new coronavirus – from duplicating themselves and overwhelming the host’s immune system.
Hilary Hutton-Squire, the vice president at Gilead Sciences in the UK and Ireland, said the company was “delighted” the UK’s health authorities had decided to issue a “positive scientific opinion” allowing treatment to begin.
“Treatment options in response to this global public health emergency are urgently needed and we are grateful to the UK government and the MHRA for their continued support and collaboration to make this medicine available to those patients who are most likely to benefit from it,” she said.
The government’s therapeutic alert document for remdesivir shows the drug will be distributed to NHS trusts across the UK. “It is expected that the supply will not initially be sufficient for all patients meeting the MHRA scientific opinion,” it stated.
The people thought most likely to benefit from remdesivir are “patients at the early stage of a Covid-19 infection who have a high probability of developing severe disease putting their lives at risk”.
