Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment has he made of the potential effectiveness of cotrimoxazole in the treatment of covid-19.

The Department is considering carefully all available evidence around the potential of different drugs for use in treating COVID-19, including from clinical trials in the United Kingdom and overseas. NHS England, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence and the National Institute for Health Research Innovation Observatory are working together through the RAPID-C19 oversight group as part of a multi-agency approach to ensure any products deemed safe and effective in clinical trials to treat COVID-19 can rapidly be brought into wider use across the National Health Service in the UK.

There are currently no UK clinical trials investigating cotrimoxazole in the treatment of COVID-19; however, we are aware of two Phase II trials using this product running in Bangladesh and Greece. These studies have not yet reported results.