Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, for what reason people with muscular dystrophy LGMD-E2 are not entitled to antiviral treatment under the Government’s antiviral treatments protocol.

Clinically eligible cohorts have been determined by an independent expert group commissioned by the Department and included in a clinical policy agreed by the United Kingdom Chief Medical Officers. The cohorts include patients whose immune systems mean they are at higher risk of COVID-19, such as organ transplant patients or those recently undergoing chemotherapy or radiotherapy. This policy was based on evidence that certain health conditions can make a patient much more likely to progress to severe disease. As a result, these patients could benefit the most from these novel medications. People with muscular dystrophy are not currently identified as part of this eligible cohort.

The Therapeutics Clinical Review Pane, which was established to focus on at-risk patient cohorts that could be eligible for COVID-19 therapies, including providing advice on cohorts, can consider specific queries from clinicians and patient groups supported by clinicians, including on eligibility and conditions like muscular dystrophy.