Anakinra, sold under the brand name Kineret, is a biopharmaceutical medication used to treat rheumatoid arthritis, cryopyrin-associated periodic syndromes, familial Mediterranean fever, and Still's disease. It is a recombinant and slightly modified version of the human interleukin 1 receptor antagonist protein. It is marketed by Swedish Orphan Biovitrum. Anakinra is administered by subcutaneous injection.
AGILE is a platform trial for early-phase evaluation of new treatments for SARS-CoV-2 infection. The trial platform is a collaboration led by the University of Liverpool, working with the Southampton Clinical Trials Unit, the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, the MRC Biostatistics Unit at the University of Cambridge and the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Clinical Research Facilities. The AGILE platform is funded by the Medical Research Council, and the Wellcome Trust, with additional funding for specific candidate evaluations from the pharmaceutical industry and Unitaid. The Chief Investigator of the trial is Saye Hock Khoo.
The National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) is the British government’s major funder of clinical, public health, social care and translational research. With a budget of over £1.2 billion in 2020–21, its mission is to "improve the health and wealth of the nation through research". The NIHR was established in 2006 under the government's Best Research for Best Health strategy, and is funded by the Department of Health and Social Care. As a research funder and research partner of the NHS, public health and social care, the NIHR complements the work of the Medical Research Council. NIHR focuses on translational research, clinical research and applied health and social care research.
Baricitinib, sold under the brand name Olumiant among others, is an immunomodulatory medication used for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis, alopecia areata, and COVID-19. It acts as an inhibitor of janus kinase (JAK), blocking the subtypes JAK1 and JAK2.
The 100,000 Genomes Project is a now-completed UK Government project managed by Genomics England that is sequencing whole genomes from National Health Service patients. The project is focusing on rare diseases, some common types of cancer, and infectious diseases. Participants give consent for their genome data to be linked to information about their medical condition and health records. The medical and genomic data is shared with researchers to improve knowledge of the causes, treatment, and care of diseases.
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the virus SARS-CoV-2. The first known case was identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The disease quickly spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic.
Drug repositioning is the repurposing of an approved drug for the treatment of a different disease or medical condition than that for which it was originally developed. This is one line of scientific research which is being pursued to develop safe and effective COVID-19 treatments. Other research directions include the development of a COVID-19 vaccine and convalescent plasma transfusion.
COVID-19 drug development is the research process to develop preventative therapeutic prescription drugs that would alleviate the severity of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). From early 2020 through 2021, several hundred drug companies, biotechnology firms, university research groups, and health organizations were developing therapeutic candidates for COVID-19 disease in various stages of preclinical or clinical research, with 419 potential COVID-19 drugs in clinical trials, as of April 2021.
The Solidarity trial for treatments is a multinational Phase III-IV clinical trial organized by the World Health Organization (WHO) and partners to compare four untested treatments for hospitalized people with severe COVID-19 illness. The trial was announced 18 March 2020, and as of 6 August 2021, 12,000 patients in 30 countries had been recruited to participate in the trial.
Molnupiravir, sold under the brand name Lagevrio, is an antiviral medication that inhibits the replication of certain RNA viruses. It is used to treat COVID-19 in those infected by SARS-CoV-2. It is taken by mouth.
Although several medications have been approved in different countries as of April 2022, not all countries have these medications. Patients with mild to moderate symptoms who are in the risk groups can take nirmatrelvir/ritonavir or remdesivir, either of which reduces the risk of serious illness or hospitalization. In the US, the Biden Administration COVID-19 action plan includes the Test to Treat initiative, where people can go to a pharmacy, take a COVID test, and immediately receive free Paxlovid if they test positive.
The Randomised Evaluation of COVID-19 Therapy is a large-enrollment clinical trial of possible treatments for people in the United Kingdom admitted to hospital with severe COVID-19 infection. The trial was later expanded to Indonesia, Nepal and Vietnam. The trial has tested ten interventions on adults: eight repurposed drugs, one newly developed drug and convalescent plasma.
Long COVID or long-haul COVID is a series of health problems persisting or developing after an initial COVID-19 infection. Symptoms can last weeks, months or years and are often debilitating. The World Health Organization defines long COVID as starting three months after infection, but other definitions put the start of long COVID at four weeks.
Casirivimab/imdevimab, sold under the brand name REGEN‑COV among others, is a combination medicine used for the treatment and prevention of COVID‑19. It consists of two human monoclonal antibodies, casirivimab and imdevimab that must be mixed together and administered as an infusion or subcutaneous injection. The combination of two antibodies is intended to prevent mutational escape. It is also available as a co-formulated product. It was developed by the American biotechnology company Regeneron Pharmaceuticals.
Sir Martin Jonathan Landray is a British physician, epidemiologist and data scientist who serves as a Professor of Medicine & Epidemiology at the University of Oxford. Landray designs, conducts and analyses large-scale randomised control trials; including practice-changing international trials that have recruited over 100,000 individuals. Landray previously led the health informatics team that enabled the collection and management of data for the UK Biobank on over half a million people.
Bamlanivimab is a monoclonal antibody developed by AbCellera Biologics and Eli Lilly as a treatment for COVID-19. The medication was granted an emergency use authorization (EUA) by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in November 2020, and the EUA was revoked in April 2021.
Nirmatrelvir/ritonavir, sold under the brand name Paxlovid, is a co-packaged medication used as a treatment for COVID‑19. It contains the antiviral medications nirmatrelvir and ritonavir and was developed by Pfizer. Both are protease inhibitors: nirmatrelvir inhibits SARS-CoV-2 main protease, while ritonavir inhibits HIV-1 protease, and is additionally a strong CYP3A inhibitor.
Ensitrelvir, sold under the brand name Xocova is an antiviral medication used as a treatment for COVID-19. It was developed by Shionogi in partnership with Hokkaido University and acts as an orally active 3C-like protease inhibitor. It is taken by mouth.
The following is a timeline of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom from July 2022 to December 2022.
Lucy Chappell is a British professor of obstetrics at King’s College London and the Chief Scientific Adviser (CSA) for the UK Department of Health and Social Care. As part of her CSA role, she oversees the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) as Chief Executive Officer. Her research areas include medical problems during pregnancy such as pre-eclampsia, and the safety of medicines in pregnancy.
COVID-19 portal 
