Having surpassed this milestone in just over two months, the record-breaking UK platform trial is also believed to be the world’s largest study of community-based treatments for acute COVID-19, in addition to the UK’s fastest ever recruiting interventional trial delivered through primary care.
The nationwide trial launched in December 2021 to rapidly generate evidence on which of the people suffering with COVID-19 at home and in the community are helped the most by new antiviral treatments - without needing to be treated in hospital. The trial will investigate a range of potentially ground-breaking oral antiviral drugs, which can be safely taken at home by people in at-risk groups (aged 50 or over, or 18-49 with a pre-existing condition), in the early stages of infection.
The first antiviral drug currently being assessed through the platform trial is molnupiravir, which has already been shown to be safe and effective through smaller-scale trials. PANORAMIC will build substantially on the existing evidence base by providing important new data from the 10,000 participants who have taken part in this arm of the trial. The study is expected to show how well molnupiravir works in a predominantly vaccinated population, as well as its cost effectiveness.
Despite this significant milestone being reached, recruitment to the molnupiravir arm continues in earnest - with the researchers aiming to enrol thousands more participants into this trial arm.
Further antiviral drugs are expected to be investigated through the University of Oxford-led trial platform as and when they become available.
Dr William van't Hoff, National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) said:
“We want to thank every single one of the 10,000 people who have taken part in the PANORAMIC trial to date. Your vital contribution to this remarkable study will provide key evidence in record time for a potentially game-changing class of new COVID-19 treatments.
“We are enormously grateful to everyone who has supported the study to date for their help. We also want to thank our primary care and research colleagues across all four nations of the UK - GPs, nurses, pharmacists and healthcare professionals who have supported the study amongst so many competing pressures and have worked tirelessly to ensure their patients can benefit from the first trial drug.”
Professor Mahendra Patel, Pharmacy, Inclusion and Diversity Lead for PANORAMIC said:
"Thank you to everyone who has taken part so far. We’ve had people join from across the UK, from all counties and areas, both urban and rural - but we still need more people to volunteer for PANORAMIC. We want our results to reflect the true diversity of people in the UK, so we’re especially asking for more people from minority ethnic communities, people living with disabilities or other protected characteristics to volunteer if you’re eligible.
"Whether you’re Black, Indian, Chinese, Arab, gypsy or Irish Traveller, and you’ve had a positive test for COVID-19, and had symptoms starting in the last five days, please check our website to see if you’re eligible."
Chief Investigator Professor Chris Butler, University of Oxford said:
“The eyes of the world are on the UK’s PANORAMIC trial - the world’s largest study into COVID-19 antivirals to date. Data from the trial will ultimately shape the way that the UK uses this new class of treatment as we learn to live with the virus, with our approach expected to be emulated world-wide.
“Since it started in December last year, more than 40,000 people across the UK have generously come forward to see if they were eligible to take part and help. Thanks to this heroic effort by the public, we’ve now crossed an important threshold for PANORAMIC, and have recruited over 10,000 people to the study.”
Find out more
For further information, visit: www.panoramictrial.org or call 0808 156 0017.