GPs are being advised against the routine use of molnupiravir to treat patients with mild COVID-19 following evidence the antiviral failed to reduce deaths or hospitalisation compared with usual care. 

The National Clinical Evidence Taskforce issued a conditional recommendation against molnupiravir (Lagevrio) on Friday after weeks spent reviewing preliminary results from the UK-based PANORAMIC trial. 

More than 306,000 scripts for the antiviral have been dispensed as of the end of November, according to Deputy Chief Medical Officer Professor Michael Kidd’s latest update for GPs. 

The open-label PANORAMIC trial involved nearly 26,000 adults (mean age 57) diagnosed with COVID-19 during the Omicron wave; 95% of the cohort had received at least three doses of vaccine.