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Indian pharmaceutical companies are gearing up to become global suppliers of repurposed Covid-19 drugs. With the launch of new innovative Covid-19 oral drugs, Indian companies are again expected to grab opportunities in the global supply of oral Covid-19 drugs, according to data and analytics company GlobalData. As several countries witness increasing cases of Covid-19 despite vaccination, they have started booking supply orders for innovative Covid-19 treatments like antibody cocktails, monoclonal antibodies and the latest addition such Merck's the oral Covid-19 drug 'molnupiravir'. Prashant Khadayate, pharma analyst at GlobalData, comments: "Oral treatment for Covid-19 would be the most convenient option for the patients ranging from mild to moderate Covid-19 and would not require a hospital setting. Currently, a majority of the Covid-19 treatments require a hospital setting." According to GlobalData's Pharma Intelligence Center, the UK is the first country to approve molnupiravir which is in pre-registration stage in the US, EU and Japan.

The NHS on Thursday (May 5) said it has rolled out the arthritis drug baricitinib for seriously ill Covid patients. The Recovery trial, conducted by the NHS and University of Oxford, found that 13 per cent fewer severely ill patients died of Covid when treated with the drug compared to existing treatment options. Typically used to treat arthritis to reduce pain and inflammation, baricitinib can now be given to hospitalised Covid patients in addition to current treatments, and clinical studies show that this can provide benefits on top of existing treatment. The NHS has led the rollout of Covid medicines, from the discovery of dexamethasone as the world's first effective treatment, to the first vaccination outside of a clinical trial in December 2020. The NHS said baricitinib works by reducing inflammation caused by Covid-19 by blocking signals to the immune system that are causing it to attack the body.

Researchers from the University of Oxford today (December 8) started recruiting for a clinical trial to test novel antiviral Covid-19 treatments for early use in the illness by people in the community and those who are at higher risk of complications. Partnering with the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR), colleagues in several UK universities, and the NHS UK-wide, the Platform Adaptive trial of NOvel antiviRals for eArly treatMent of Covid-19 In the Community (PANORAMIC), is a national priority trial, and will be open to participants from across the UK. The first treatment to be tested by the UK Antiviral Taskforce will be molnupiravir, a Covid antiviral pill already licensed by the MHRA. Britain became the first country in the world to approve molnupiravir, which was jointly developed by U.S.-based Merck & Co Inc and Ridgeback Biotherapeutics, in November.

UK regulator has approved a second oral antiviral for early treatment of Covid-19 in high-risk adults, after molnupiravir. The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) gave its nod for a new treatment called Paxlovid (PF-07321332 and ritonavir), after finding it safe and effective at reducing the risk of hospitalisation and death in people diagnosed with mild Covid-19 infection. Developed by Pfizer, Paxlovid prevents the multiplying of virus, helping the body to overcome the infection. A clinical trial for the treatment in high risk individuals revealed that a five-days course of Paxlovid reduces the risk of hospitalisation and death by 89 per cent. It further revealed that Paxlovid is most effective when taken in the early stage of infection. Dr June Raine, MHRA chief executive, said: "We now have a further antiviral medicine for the treatment of Covid-19 that can be taken by mouth rather than administered intravenously. This means it can be administered outside a hospital setting, before Covid-19 has progressed to a severe stage."

A second Global Covid-19 Summit will be held virtually next month for countries to discuss efforts to end the pandemic and prepare for future health threats, according to a joint statement on Monday (April18). "The emergence and spread of new variants, like Omicron, have reinforced the need for a strategy aimed at controlling Covid-19 worldwide," the White House said in a news release with the Group of Seven and Group of 20 nations. The announcement comes amid a surge of Covid-19 cases around the world prompted by easily transmissible variants of the virus. China's most populous city, Shanghai, is trying to return to normal after a nearly three-week shutdown, which, along with wider China curbs, are taking a toll on the world's No. 2 economy. The summit will build on efforts and commitments made at the first global summit in September, including getting more people vaccinated, sending tests and treatments to highest-risk populations, expanding protections to health care workers and generating financing for pandemic preparedness, the statement said.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has issued draft guidance on 'Evusheld' which is not recommended for vulnerable adult with high risk of severe Covid-19 on Thursday (16 February). The draft guidance is open for public consultation until 9 March 2023. The committee will consider any comments received at a meeting currently due to take place on 4 April 2023. It comes after last month's decision by the US drug regulator to withdraw its emergency use authorisation for Evusheld as a preventative treatment for Covid-19, which said there was insufficient evidence that Evusheld is effective against the dominant variants of Covid-19 in the US. NICE's independent appraisal committee has reached the same conclusion having considered evidence which shows Evusheld is unlikely to prevent infection with most of the variants circulating in the UK now and in the near future. It has also announced that it is developing a new review process to update recommendations on the cost-effectiveness of Covid-19 treatments so they can be made available more quickly to patients if they show promise against new variants and are found to be cost-effective.

Pfizer's oral Covid-19 therapy will be evaluated as a potential treatment for patients hospitalised with the illness in a major British trial, scientists said on Monday, as cases rise in some parts of the world. The world's largest randomised study of potential medicines for Covid-19, dubbed the RECOVERY trial, will assess Paxlovid across hospitals in Britain, which has already approved the drug for early-stage treatment. "Paxlovid is a promising oral antiviral drug but we don't know if it can improve survival of patients with severe Covid-19," said Peter Horby, a professor at the University of Oxford and joint chief investigator of the RECOVERY trial. The scientists said they aim to mainly find whether Pfizer's Paxlovid reduces the risk of death among patients admitted to hospitals with Covid-19.

British drugmaker AstraZeneca says it's confident that its new version of COVID-19 antibody treatment could protect immunocompromised patients against all known virus variants. Laboratory studies show the antibody, called AZD3152, neutralises all known variants of COVID-19 and AstraZeneca has support from regulators to make the treatment available by the end of this year, the company's vaccines head Iskra Reic said on Tuesday (April 18). AstraZeneca plans, pending more positive data and regulatory approval, to make the antibody available by the end of 2023. These types of therapies are most needed for people with compromised immune systems, either because of underlying conditions or because they are undergoing immune suppressing treatments. They account for nearly 2% of the global population. AstraZeneca's AZD3152, it new COVID-19 antibody, was acquired through a $157 million deal last year with British biotech start-up RQ Bio. The British drugmaker will likely make future investments like its current partnerships with RQ Bio but did not have any deals to announce, said Reic, a long-time AstraZeneca executive who has led the company's vaccines and immune therapies unit since it was formed in late 2021, during the pandemic.

The British scientists behind one of the major therapeutic Covid-19 trials have turned their focus to treatments for monkeypox, a viral disease that has been labelled a global health emergency by the World Health Organization. The team from Oxford University behind the so-called RECOVERY trial - which honed in on four effective Covid treatments - on Tuesday unveiled a new trial, dubbed PLATINUM, to confirm whether Siga Technologies' tecovirimat is an effective treatment for monkeypox. Although there are vaccines developed for the closely related smallpox that can reduce the risk of catching monkeypox, there are currently no treatments that have been proven to help hasten recovery in those who develop the disease. The UK has over 3,000 confirmed cases of monkeypox. The virus is transmitted chiefly through close contact with an infected person. It typically causes mild symptoms including fever, rash, swollen lymph nodes and pus-filled skin lesions. Severe cases can occur, though people tend to recover within two to four weeks. Siga's drug, branded Tpoxx, has been cleared to treat diseases caused by the family of orthopoxvirus that includes smallpox, monkeypox and cowpox by the European Union and United Kingdom, but due to limited trial data it is generally only used in severe cases in Britain.

An alliance of companies has pledged to ensure equitable access to vaccines and treatments for pandemics, as the friction around intellectual property rights for Covid-19 interventions between the pharmaceutical industry and developing nations endures. At the heart of the plan is a commitment to set aside part of the production of vaccines and treatments upfront for vulnerable populations in low-income countries when the next pandemic arises, given how fragmented access to Covid tools has left many populations unprotected. In order to do better next time - and without knowing which companies will develop the first drugs and vaccines for the next pandemic - having the industry collectively make this commitment is potentially transformative, said Thomas Cueni, head of the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers & Associations (IFPMA). The pledge, called the Berlin Declaration, was made on July 19 by members of the global pharmaceutical industry group that include many of the companies involved in developing Covid interventions, such as AstraZeneca, GSK, Moderna, Pfizer and Merck. The declaration is not legally binding. However, if a company that signed on reneges on its vow, it would face grave consequences in the court of public opinion, said Cueni.

Pharmacy teams are being encouraged to support the ground-breaking Platform Adaptive trial of Novel antivirals for early treatment of Covid-19 In the Community (PANORAMIC) study by raising awareness among patients. The study aims to find out whether new antiviral treatments can help Covid-19 patients avoid hospital admission and support a quicker recovery. The PANORAMIC trial will allow researchers to gather data on the potential benefits of treatments to patients and will help the NHS to develop plans for rolling out the products to further patients in 2022. Anyone over the age of 50 or between 18 to 49 with certain underlying health conditions can participate in the trial after receiving a positive PCR or lateral flow test result for Covid-19. People who wish to participate in the trial can sign up themselves through the study's website and may be contacted by a member of the clinical team in a general practice that has been set up to deliver the PANORAMIC trial.

Britain will start to roll out Merck's molnupiravir Covid-19 antiviral pill through a drug trial later this month, Susan Hopkins, chief medical adviser at the UK Health Security Agency said on Sunday (November 7). Last week Britain became the first country in the world to approve the potentially game-changing Covid-19 antiviral pill, jointly developed by US-based Merck & Co Inc and Ridgeback Biotherapeutics. The government said in October it had secured 480,000 courses of the Merck drug, as well as 250,000 courses of an antiviral pill developed by Pfizer Inc. Asked about the molnupiravir approval, Hopkins told BBC television: "That is great news and it will start to be rolled out through a drug trial in the end of this month/the beginning of December." Hopkins said all the trials so far had been done with the unvaccinated, so this would help understand how it will work in the wider vaccinated population.

The Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS) presented key evidence to the UK COVID-19 Inquiry on 10 September, underscoring the vital role of pharmacists and pharmacy teams during the pandemic. Deirdre Domingo, legal representative for the RPS, delivered the statement during the Module 3 public hearings, which focus on the impact of COVID-19 on healthcare systems across the UK. As the professional body representing pharmacists and pharmaceutical scientists in Great Britain, the RPS urged the Inquiry to consider several critical issues: Recognition of pharmacists as key workers The RPS highlighted the crucial role pharmacy teams played in ensuring continued access to essential medicines and their integral involvement in the roll-out of COVID-19 and flu vaccinations. However, the Society also raised concerns over significant failures and challenges, such as inadequate safety measures to protect pharmacists at work, confusing national guidance, increased hostility towards healthcare professionals, and a disparity in the treatment of community pharmacy compared to NHS staff.

GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) says initial tests of the antibody-based Covid-19 therapy it is developing with US partner Vir suggest the drug is effective against the Omicron variant. A GSK statement on Thursday (December 2) said that lab tests and a study on hamsters have demonstrated the sotrovimab antibody cocktail to work against viruses that were bio-engineered to carry a number of hallmark mutations of the new variant. The tests are continuing to confirm the results against all of the Omicron mutations, with an update expected by the end of the year, it added. The antibody is designed to latch on to the spike protein on the surface of the coronavirus, but Omicron has been found to have an unusually high amount of mutations on that protein. "Sotrovimab was deliberately designed with a mutating virus in mind," said Vir chief executive George Scangos, adding that the drug was targeting a region of the spike protein that was highly unlikely to mutate.

NHS moves a step ahead towards its efforts to address covid-19 backlogs by opening a new 'planned care' hospital in Berkshire dedicated to non-emergency treatment. Heatherwood Hospital in Ascot, part of Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust, will focus on cutting waits for routine care with staff prioritising patients who have been waiting longest, including for orthopaedic and ophthalmology services. The hospital houses six operating theatres, 48 inpatient beds and 22 day-case cubicles and provides surgical, diagnostic and outpatient care, and will treat patients across Berkshire, Hampshire and Surrey. There will also be a range of outpatient services under the same roof including gynaecology, urology and cardiology services. These will be supported by services offering patients endoscopy, physiotherapy, phlebotomy and radiology checks and treatments.

British drugmaker GSK said on Tuesday (December 7) its antibody-based Covid-19 therapy with US partner Vir Biotechnology is effective against all mutations of the new Omicron coronavirus variant, citing new data from early-stage studies. The data, yet to be published in a peer-reviewed medical journal, shows that the companies' treatment, sotrovimab, is effective against all 37 identified mutations to date in the spike protein, GSK said in a statement. Last week, another pre-clinical data showed that the drug had worked against key mutations of the Omicron variant. Sotrovimab is designed to latch on to the spike protein on the surface of the coronavirus, but Omicron has been found to have an unusually high number of mutations on that protein. "These pre-clinical data demonstrate the potential for our monoclonal antibody to be effective against the latest variant, Omicron, plus all other variants of concern defined to date by the WHO," GSK chief scientific officer Hal Barron said.

At the UK Covid-19 Inquiry's Module 3 hearings on 10 September, the National Pharmacy Association (NPA) highlighted that community pharmacy was "often overlooked and under-recognised" during the pandemic. Lawyer Lee John-Charles, speaking on behalf of the NPA, told the Inquiry that despite the central role played by community pharmacy in the delivery of NHS care throughout the pandemic, community pharmacists and their teams were "not given comparable treatment to other frontline healthcare workers." The NPA criticised the initial exclusion of pharmacy workers from the Life Assurance Scheme for frontline workers in England, calling on the Inquiry to investigate this notable omission. The NPA also pointed out that community pharmacies were forced to source and fund their own personal protective equipment (PPE) as it was not initially available to them through the NHS.

Genomic sequencing allowed the world to track new coronavirus variants throughout the pandemic. Now British researchers plan to use it to better understand a host of other respiratory pathogens, from influenza to respiratory syncytial virus (RSV). The work is aimed at shedding more light on known threats and, potentially, emerging ones, the team at the Wellcome Sanger Institute, working with the UK Health Security Agency, said. The world has never had access to the kind of real-time information for these viruses that scientists obtained on SARS-CoV-2 through sequencing millions of genomes, Ewan Harrison, head of the new Respiratory Virus and Microbiome Initiative, told reporters on Monday. That includes granular detail on how they transmit as well as how they evolve in the face of the human immune response. "We hope that by expanding our ability to sequence these viruses routinely, we can build upon the work that's going on COVID, and hopefully supercharge research efforts to understand the transmission of these viruses, but also to help develop new treatments and vaccines," Harrison said.

British pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline beat first-quarter sales and earnings forecasts on Wednesday (April 27), helped by demand for its Covid-19 therapy and shingles vaccine, as the company moves towards the July separation of its consumer health business. Profit after tax jumped 68 percent to £1.8 billion ($2.3 billion, 2.1 billion euros) compared with the start of 2021. Sales climbed 32 percent to almost £9.8 billion. "We have delivered strong first-quarter results in this landmark year for GSK, as we separate consumer healthcare and start a new period of sustained growth," chief executive Emma Walmsley said in the earnings statement. "Our results reflect further good momentum across speciality medicines and vaccines, including the return to strong sales growth for Shingrix and continuing pipeline progress." The shingles vaccine generated £698 million in quarterly sales, beating analyst estimates of 528 million. Walmsley is seeking to reshape GSK after facing fierce investor criticism over the company's delay in producing Covid jabs and treatments.

COVID-19 has struck everything. From people to the economy, everything is suffering, and the death toll is increasing day by day. While some countries have managed to restrict the risk like China, some are still struggling. The symptoms of this infection are cough, flu, fever, and fatal respiratory issues. Although, this virus is serious but not every COVID positive person ends up in the hospital, generally, the intense or worse cases require hospitalization.