Adults over the age of 50 or with an underlying health condition who test positive for coronavirus are being urged to sign up for a world-first study which is providing life-saving antivirals to thousands of people.

The government and leading charities, including Kidney Care UK, Cystic Fibrosis Trust, Diabetes UK and the British Liver Trust, are calling on at least 6,000 more participants to come forward for these cutting-edge treatments through the PANORAMIC study. This is so that expert scientists can understand more about how to deploy these treatments in the NHS more widely later in the year – including who would benefit most from receiving antiviral treatments for coronavirus.

Antivirals are medicines which can be swallowed as a tablet to help treat people with coronavirus infections to reduce the risk of hospitalisations and death. Molnupiravir, which is currently being deployed through the study, has shown to reduce this for at risk, non-hospitalised adults with mild to moderate coronavirus by 30 per cent.

The UK-wide study, run by the University of Oxford and supported by the National Institute for Health Research, launched at the start of December 2021 and currently has around 4,600 trial participants signed up.

Health and Social Care Secretary Sajid Javid said: “The vaccines are critical as a first line of defence, but antivirals form a vital part of our approach as we learn to live with Covid by preventing the most vulnerable from being hospitalised. If you’re eligible, please step forward for the PANORAMIC trial and play your part in a vital mission – helping us to learn more about medicines which could save thousands of lives.”