The U.K. has secured contracts with MSD and Pfizer to supply enough pills to treat vulnerable people who get infected with COVID-19 this winter, and possibly most of next year, the government announced on Wednesday.
The Antivirals Taskforce has agreed to buy 480,000 treatment courses of MSD’s investigational COVID-19 pill molnupiravir, and 250,000 courses of Pfizer’s antiviral candidate, known a PF-07321332/ritonavir.
Molnupiravir has shown to halve the risk of hospitalization or death in people at risk of serious disease from coronavirus infection, when given to adults with mild to moderate COVID-19.
Pfizer’s therapy is combined with ritonavir, a licensed antiviral for HIV/AIDS, and is currently in Phase 2/3 trials.
Both treatments, designed to destroy the virus, require authorization by the U.K.’s Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency before they can be offered by community doctors to COVID-19 patients most in need.
At the earliest, molnupiravir could be available in mid-November, while Pfizer’s pill is most likely to be available in late January or early February. Once they’re available, the U.K. will collect data on their efficacy.
“This is a very important development in our mission to find antivirals for those exposed to COVID-19,†said Taskforce Chair Eddie Gray.
To date, just one antiviral, remdesivir, has been authorized for use against COVID-19 but its efficacy is not so clear-cut. The new pills will be given in the community, as opposed to in hospitals.
Scientists have long been calling for further research and government backing into these potentially life-saving treatments, especially for those who cannot mount a strong immune response.