Paxlovid, Pfizer’s pill against COVID-19, will arrive in our country this month. The President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, announced last Monday that 344,000 doses of the antiviral that prevents serious cases of coronavirus and is capable of reducing by almost 90% the risk of hospitalization and death of people belonging to some group will be purchased. of risk . It would also deal with the expanding omicron variant.
In mid-December, the European Medicines Agency (EMA) gave the green light for the use of Paxlovid as an emergency measure. It was left to the authorities of each country to use it or not, pending the European license. The United States has ordered ten million doses, the United Kingdom 2,750,000 and Israel 100,000.
Pfizer’s antiviral is not for everyone, but is intended for adults with covid who are at risk of developing a serious condition, but who do not require supplemental oxygen . It is not recommended for pregnant women, those who are trying to become mothers or who are breastfeeding, since in animal studies it has been seen that high doses of the drug could cause damage to the developing fetus.
The pharmaceutical company assures that its pill against COVID-19 is capable of reducing the risk of hospitalization and death of people belonging to some risk group by almost 90% if it is administered in the first five days after having symptoms. It would also act effectively against the omicron variant, more specifically it would be a “potent inhibitor” of it.
The results are based on a study that Pfizer carried out with some 2,250 unvaccinated people who had some risk factor associated with severe covid, such as diabetes, hypertension and obesity.
As reported by the company, the trial showed that the pill reduces hospitalization in high-risk adults with covid by 89% if taken within three days of the onset of symptoms , and drops to 88% if taken in the first five days. Only 0.7% of people who took the drug had to go through hospital, compared to 6.5% of admissions in the placebo group, who did not take it. In this last group there were 12 deaths in total and none among those who took the antiviral.
The most common side effects reported during treatment and up to 34 days after the last dose of Paxlovid were taste disturbance, diarrhea and vomiting .
Paxlovid is a mixture of nirmatrelvir, an experimental drug, and ritovanir, an antiviral used against HIV. The treatment would consist of taking 30 pills for five days. The first substance works by blocking the activity of an enzyme that the coronavirus uses to replicate. Ritovanir, for its part, would act to slow down the breakdown of nirmatrelvir in the body, increasing its effectiveness.
This medicine does not work against the rapidly mutating proteins found on the surface of the coronavirus. Therefore, they are expected to be more effective against new variants than the antibodies used in most covid vaccines .
