Quick update for people newly getting letters about COVID-19 treatment eligibility

[Debbie_kinsey]

Last week there was a lot of discussion from people saying they've received letters or emails telling them that they are eligible for free lateral flow tests and/or COVID-19 treatments when they hadn't been eligible before.

Just a quick update to say that it was confirmed that more people have been added to the list of who is eligible, so this may be why you have received a letter now.

The updated report about precisely which people have been added hasn't been published yet, but I expect it to come out very soon as NICE are publishing their final guidance on which treatments they recommend this week.

As soon as it's published I'll update our information and post something in here, and then hopefully things will be a lot clearer for those confused about why they have/haven't received a letter.

Take care

Debbie

[Star13]

I was reading recently that the Gov bought so many billions of £s worth of stocks of antivirals and so far have only used 1% of them. The cynical side of me wonders if they have widened the scope of people to dish it out to because they don’t want another scandal for being accused of wasting 💩 loads of money again and then having to dump it (excuse the pun) as it’s all run over its use by date! 🫢

[Star13 in reply to Star13]

Molnupiravir was the drug I referred to above and according to this study didn’t even do better than controls in studies! No wonder they want to get rid of it!

bmj.com/content/379/bmj.o2441

[Debbie_kinsey Administrator LUPUS UK in reply to Star13]

Hi Star13. I can definitely understand a level of cynicism about decision-making processes. This is the situation as far as I understand it:

1. The reason more people have been added is because they're continually evaluating the evidence about who is most at risk and who available medicines may help the most. That evidence can change as more studies are done or as things change in the pandemic (like new variants), so that's why the eligibility criteria gets updated periodically. When the report is published about who has been added, it will include links to evidence about why, so we will be also able to read the evidence they've considered.

2. The NICE guidance on which treatments they recommend in the community includes paxlovid & sotrovimab (for people unable to take paxlovid due to drug interactions or reactions). Molnupiravir has not been recommended in the draft guidance because of evidence it's not effective against current variants, so it's unlikely that having high stocks of molnupiravir and wanting to get rid of it is the reason for expanding the eligibility, as it won't be used once the final guidance is implemented. (To complicate things slightly, there's currently an appeal in process for molnupiravir, so whilst the guidance on paxlovid & sotrimab is being made final, the guidance on molnupiravir is still in process, so recommendations will get implemented at different times).

You can read more about the NICE appraisal & their recommendations in our article here: lupusuk.org.uk/nice-covid19... . And see the latest updates from NICE, including links to their discussion papers, here: nice.org.uk/guidance/ta878 . We will update our article in the coming days now that NICE are publishing their final guidance on some of the treatments, and I'll write something once that expanded eligibility report is out.

I hope this is helpful

Debbie

[BonnyB in reply to Debbie_kinsey]

Thanks for this x

[Hidden]

Thanks Debbie ✨