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.
Community pharmacy is at the heart of one of the most ambitious clinical trials ever undertaken by the UK's primary care network, says senior academic pharmacist
Professor Mahendra Patel.
The PANORAMIC trial has been designed to rapidly evaluate several antiviral treatments over time that could help people at high risk of Covid-19 recover sooner,
prevent the need for hospital admission and so ease the burden on the NHS.
The Platform Adaptive trial of NOvel antiviRals for eArly treatMent of Covid-19 In the Community (PANORAMIC) is a national priority trial led by Oxford University's
Primary Care Clinical Trials Unit.
Lead investigators say the study will enable early and rapid testing of novel antiviral agents and help repurpose existing drugs against Covid-19. As soon as the trial is set up for delivery, it will be open to eligible participants from across the UK.
Prof Patel, a key member of the trial's core team, said: "I'm really excited with this news and also by the prospect that there is a huge potential for pharmacy teams to help play a vital role in supporting this highly ambitious trial, as they have with the PRINCIPLE trial, now the world's largest community based clinical trial for Covid19."
The Galien Foundation recently announced the winners of the 2024 Prix Galien UK Awards, with the University of Oxford receiving accolades for its
groundbreaking contributions to public sector innovation through the PRINCIPLE and PANORAMIC Trials.
These trials, spearheaded by Oxford's team of experts, have set a new standard for scientific innovation aimed at improving global health outcomes.
Led by University of Oxford, the PRINCIPLE and PANORAMIC Trials epitomize a remarkable collaboration aimed at combating the COVID-19 pandemic.
The NIHR Research Delivery Network (RDN) has published a new paper highlighting the learnings from a major COVID-19 research trial conducted in primary
care settings.
The paper, which draws on insights from the PANORAMIC study, emphasised the importance of prioritising primary care studies from the very start of any pandemic
to prevent worsening of patient symptoms and reduce hospital admission.
Additionally, it recommended considering the use of UK-wide pharmacy networks, including community pharmacies, to promote research inclusion for future similar
trials in primary care to increase recruitment in underserved communities.
Authored by Professor Phil Evans, GP and Deputy Health and Care Director at the NIHR RDN together with colleagues from the NIHR and University of Oxford, the
80-page paper concluded that primary care research should be at the forefront of future pandemic preparedness.
During the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, much research was carried out on critically ill patients in secondary care settings.
More than 5,000 vulnerable people have enrolled for the ground-breaking Platform Adaptive trial of NOvel antiviRals for eArly treatMent of Covid-19 In the Community (PANORAMIC) study on life-saving antivirals.
With this the UK is now one step closer to rolling out the innovative medicines, which would help reduce the severity of symptoms and the risk of hospitalisation or death.
Success of the study would eventually help to ease pressures on the NHS.
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.
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.
Three leading pharmacists - professor Mahendra Patel, Asif Aziz and Ade Williams - have been recognised in Queen Elizabeth's annual New Year's honours list.
Professor Patel, an academic pharmacist from West Yorkshire, was awarded an OBE for his "services to pharmacy." He told Pharmacy Business: "I am truly honoured and deeply humbled by this highly prestigious award that I have always believed was more deserving for others.
"That's not to say I'm not proud of it - far from it, although for me it's not necessarily about rewards and recognition but more the intricacies of the journey I embark on and the learning and joy that those encounters bring with it.
Most recently, Professor Patel - who has had a broad ranging portfolio career spanning community pharmacy, health education and health promotion, academia, and research - has been involved in promoting clinical trials across community pharmacies in the UK.
His latest work has seen him act as one of the national leads for the PRINCIPLE and PANORAMIC trials, run by Oxford University - both trials seek to pioneer repurposed and new drug treatments in the community to prevent hospitalisation due to Covid-19.