Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the efficacy of inhaled budesonide in reducing (a) admissions to hospital with covid-19 and (b) the progression of covid-19 from a mild to severe disease.

Inhaled budesonide was trialled as part of the PRINCIPLE trial platform in the United Kingdom as a treatment for COVID-19 in non-hospitalised patients who are 65 years old and over or 50 years old and over with an underlying health condition. On 12 April, interim analysis from the PRINCIPLE trial revealed that inhaled budesonide reduced the time to self-reported recovery by a median of three days. However, the full analysis is currently underway to understand the full benefit of this treatment. Clinical guidance has been issued for clinicians to consider prescribing inhaled budesonide on a case-by-case basis, but inhaled budesonide is not currently recommended as the standard of care in the UK. The Department will continue to monitor the results as more detailed data and analysis from the trial becomes available and stand ready to adjust guidance should this be appropriate.