Second ground-breaking antiviral to be deployed to UK's most vulnerable

Thousands of those most at-risk to COVID-19 will soon be able to access the UK’s second ground-breaking antiviral, the Department of Health and Social Care announced on Friday.

Thousands of the country’s most vulnerable will be able to access the UK’s second ground-breaking antiviral – Pfizer’s (NYSE: PFE) Paxlovid (PF-07321332+ritonavir) from Thursday February 10.

Those at highest risk who test positive for the virus – for example, people who are immunocompromized, cancer patients or those with Down’s Syndrome – could access Paxlovid directly. The Merck & Co (NYSE: MRK) antiviral molnupiravir and GlaxoSmithKline (LSE: GSK) monoclonal antibody sotrovimab are already being deployed to the highest risk patients with nearly 10,000 patients being treated to date.