Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Kamall on 24 March (HL7023), why they are retaining stocks of COVID-19 antiviral treatments.

The Government has secured 4.98 million patient courses of oral antiviral treatments. As a result, there are supplies of oral antivirals molnupiravir and nirmatrelvir+ritonavir held in the United Kingdom with regular deliveries to ensure sufficient treatment for patients. These are available to eligible patients in the community at highest risk of developing severe disease through COVID Medicines Delivery Units in England and equivalent arrangements in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. In addition, nirmatrelvir + ritonavir is available to eligible patients who contract COVID-19 whilst in hospital.

We continue to monitor clinical trial results to understand which patient cohorts may benefit from oral antivirals, including the PANORAMIC national study. The results will inform our understanding of the performance of oral antivirals where the majority of the population is vaccinated and future decisions on patient access in the UK.