Sonia Bryan, a nurse from Worcestershire, was one of the first people to take part in PANORAMIC - a pivotol UK study investigating new antiviral Covid pills that can be safely taken at home.
Published: 14 January 2022
Finding new antiviral treatments for COVID-19
When Sonia Bryan, a 65 year old nurse from Worcestershire, tested positive for Covid-19 - she agreed to take part in a new trial called PANORAMIC, investigating new antiviral Covid pills that can be safely taken at home.
Sonia said: “I woke up in the early hours one morning feeling unwell - with what I thought were ‘cold’ symptoms, a sore throat, headache, and generally bunged up. That morning I attended a walk-in test centre for a COVID PCR test and - which came back positive.”
“A family member told me about a new study testing these Covid-19 antiviral treatments. I looked into it and signed up online on the same day that I received my positive test result.”
Taking part from home
To be eligible to take part in PANORAMIC, participants need to have had a positive COVID-19 test result and be unwell with COVID-19 symptoms which started within the last 5 days. Taking part is easy. The trial can be joined online or over the phone, with participant packs couriered directly to people’s homes.
Sonia said: “After entering my details online, a nurse from the study team called me and talked me through what would be involved in taking part in the study and asked me several health related questions to check if I was suitable. I was happy to help and be a part of it - so I gave my consent and enrolled in the study.”
New COVID-19 antiviral treatments
Participants are randomly selected to either be in the treatment group, receiving a course of molnupiravir - four pills taken 12 hour apart, every day for 5 days - or to a standard care group.
Sonia was randomly assigned to the treatment group. The following day, a course of a molnupiravir was delivered to Sonia’s home by courier.
Although earlier studies have shown molnupiravir to be effective at treating COVID-19 - there is a need to establish how effective the treatment is in a predominantly vaccinated population.
“The more people who take part in this important study, the quicker we can get these promising new treatments licensed and made available to everyone who needs them.
“I think it’s really important for people to take part in trials like this - so that effective remedies for COVID can be found to help manage people’s symptoms from home. If it’s shown to work, the drug can be licensed and GPs can prescribe it, which in turn, will improve the symptoms, speed up recovery and prevent unnecessary hospital admissions."
Find out more
Find out more about the PANORAMIC study or sign up at: www.panoramictrial.org