Covid treatments reviewed

BRITAIN’S agency that determines if medicines should be used in the NHS has recommended stopping the use of five Covid-19 treatments, including Merck & Co’s antiviral pill for high-risk patients, citing cost-effectiveness concerns.

The review, conducted by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) and published last Wednesday (16), is its first involving Covid-19 treatments as the pandemic enters a new phase. The recommendations are a draft, NICE said, and until final guidance is published, access to Covid-19 medicines will continue as is. It did not say when final guidance would be published.

NICE acknowledged there is evidence Merck’s molnupiravir and

Gilead Sciences Inc’s hospital-administered antiviral remdesivir are effective in the treatment of Covid-19.

But it said it does not recommend their use at current prices because the cost-effectiveness estimates are higher than what it considers an acceptable use of the national health system’s resources.

It also recommended against three other Covid treatments, including GSK and partner Vir Biotechnology’s sotrovimab.

The other two are combination antibody treatments, Evusheld from AstraZeneca and Roche’s Ronapreve.

One expert said that some of the Covid treatments NICE recommended against are an important part of the British government’s current strategy.