the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, Oral antivirals could transform the treatment of COVID-19, allowing some patients to take medicines while recovering at home instead of having to visit health clinics or be admitted to hospital to receive injections or infusions of currently available therapies. Pfizer this morning released final analysis of its oral antiviral candidate PAXLOVID (the protease inhibitors nirmatrelvir and ritonavir, taken together), showing the treatment retained its 89% efficacy in preventing hospitalization and death among 2,246 high-risk COVID-19 patients.
The results were released in a press release and have not yet been peer-reviewed. The data are similar to an interim analysis released in November, which included about 1,200 patients. The company also released interim results from a different study testing PAXLOVID in standard-risk patients and fully vaccinated patients* with 1 or more risk factors. The primary endpoint of self-reported symptom alleviation for 4 consecutive days was not met, but a secondary endpoint showed a 70% reduction in hospitalization and no deaths. Notably, patients in the treatment groups of both studies showed a significant reduction in viral load when compared with patients in the placebo groups. A lower viral load could help lower the risk of transmission. Because PAXLOVID works to inhibit the protease enzyme the virus uses to reproduce—instead of working to inhibit the virus itself—scientists feel the treatment could be effective against Omicron and other variants.
Over the past month, excitement over Merck and Ridgeback Biotherapeutic’s oral antiviral COVID-19 treatment molnupiravir has waned, after full clinical trial data showed the therapy’s efficacy in reducing hospitalization was much lower than initially anticipated based on preliminary data. On November 30, a US FDA advisory panel voted 13-10 to recommend the investigational drug for emergency authorization. The narrow endorsement came after hours of spirited debate centered on several concerns, including whether molnupiravir—which hinders the ability of SARS-CoV-2 to properly replicate its genetic material—could lead to the development of new viral variants, increase the risk of birth defects if used in pregnant individuals, or cause other DNA mutations in humans. The concerns over variants and birth defects are resurfacing just as Britain launches a national clinical trial examining molnupiravir and other COVID-19 treatments, known as PANORAMIC.
The trial aims to recruit more than 10,000 people aged 50 and older or who are classified as clinically vulnerable because of pre-existing conditions and who have been infected for less than 5 days. Britain became the first country to approve molnupiravir (Lagevrio) in early November, but the government then said the drug would be rolled out as part of a clinical trial. The results of the trial, as well as other research into the drug, will be useful in showing its real-world effectiveness and evaluating the risks. We expect the FDA to make decisions on emergency use authorization (EUA) applications for both PAXLOVID and molnupiravir in the coming weeks. *Full original course of the vaccine, not including additional or booster doses.
Hopefully these little pills end the vaccine mandate madness!
They won’t work either.
“Hopefully these little pills end the vaccine mandate madness!”
No, they will be just another step to show how treacherous the new mutations are, that they are of limited value against the ONSLAUGHT.
The fact that deaths are becoming fewer will just indicate how dangerous this is.
The source of this will of course be classified. Sort of the thousands of deaths that were prevented after 9/11 as we were told by folks with security clearances who told us about the existence of classified information.