Pfizer Unveils Latest CoViD-19 Pill, The Paxlovid

We are now on the third year after the CoViD-19 starts infecting a lot of people all over the world. All personnel from different medical field have gathered and unite to try to create vaccines in a very short period of time.

As of this writing, 3^rd quarter of 2022, according to World Health Organization, the list of available vaccines in the market are as follows:

Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine

Moderna (mRNA-1273) COVID-19 vaccine

Oxford/AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine

J&J COVID-19 vaccine

Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccine

Sinovac COVID-19 vaccine

COVAXIN

Covovax

Novavax

CanSino Biologics Ad5-nCoV-S [recombinant]

Moreover, Pharmaceutical giant Pfizer has announced the unveiling of their latest Pill to combat CoViD-19, The Paxlovid.

Pfizer's COVID-19 pill, Paxlovid, appears to have a lot of positives, including an 89% reduction in the risk of hospitalization and death in clinical trials.

Paxlovid is the latest COVID-19 treatment that’s been all over the news. The drug was granted an emergency use authorization (EUA) by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in December for anyone ages 12 and older who weighs at least 88 pounds, and is at high risk for severe disease.

Paxlovid is an oral antiviral pill that can be taken at home to help keep high-risk patients from getting so sick that they need to be hospitalized. So, if you test positive for the coronavirus and you are eligible to take the pills, you can take them at home and lower your risk of going to the hospital.

The drug, developed by Pfizer, has a lot of positives: It had an 89% reduction in the risk of hospitalization and death in the clinical trial that supported the EUA, a number that was high enough to prompt the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to prioritize it over other COVID-19 treatments; and it’s cheaper than many other COVID-19 drugs (it’s provided for free by the U.S. government while there is a public health emergency); and, perhaps most reassuring, it is expected to work against the Omicron variant.

“I think it is the beginning of a ‘game-changer,’” says Scott Roberts, MD, a Yale Medicine infectious diseases specialist. “It's really our first efficacious oral antiviral pill for this virus. It shows clear benefit, and it really can prevent hospitalization and death in people who are at high risk.”

It’s important to note that Paxlovid (the brand name for the drug, which is made up of two generic medications—nirmatrelvir and ritonavir) isn’t the only pill available to treat COVID-19. The FDA also granted an EUA in December to a pill from Merck called molnupiravir (Lagevrio), but some studies suggest that molnupiravir has only a 30% reduction in the risk for hospitalization and death from COVID-19.

And as far as convenience, this medication is considered an improvement over treatments like remdesivir (approved by the FDA in October 2020), which is administered by intravenous (IV) injection.

According to infectious diseases experts from Yale Medicine, Paxlovid is an antiviral therapy that consists of two separate medications packaged together. When you take your three-pill dose, two of those pills will be nirmatrelvir, which inhibits a key enzyme that the COVID virus requires in order to make functional virus particles. After nirmatrelvir treatment, the COVID virus that is released from the cells is no longer able to enter uninfected cells in the body, which, in turn, stops the infection. The other is ritonavir, a drug that was once used to treat HIV/AIDS but is now used to boost levels of antiviral medicines.

As a COVID-19 treatment, ritonavir essentially shuts down nirmatrelvir’s metabolism in the liver, so that it doesn’t move out of your body as quickly, which means it can work longer—giving it a boost to help fight the infection.

If you ask when you should take Paxlovid, you have to take Paxlovid within five days of developing symptoms.

Like all antivirals, Paxlovid works best early in the course of an illness—in this case, within the first five days of symptom onset, says Jeffrey Topal, MD, a Yale Medicine infectious diseases specialist who is involved in determining COVID-19 treatment protocols for Yale New Haven Hospital patients.

“Once you’ve been ill with the virus for more than a week, the damage done to the body in a severe case can’t be undone by the antiviral,” he says.

The question now is, can anyone get a Paxlovid prescription? The FDA authorized Paxlovid for people ages 12 and older who weigh at least 88 pounds. But in order to qualify for a prescription, you must also have had a positive COVID-19 test result and be at high risk for developing severe COVID-19.

That means you must either have certain underlying conditions (including cancer, diabetes, obesity, or others) or be 65 or older (more than 81% of COVID-19 deaths occur in in this group). The more underlying medical conditions a person has, the higher their risk for developing a severe case of COVID-19, according to the CDC.

The hope is that the restrictions on who can take Paxlovid will be relaxed over time. The FDA granted the EUA in December, just as a staggering number of people were infected with Omicron and the need for care skyrocketed, leading to supply issues.

If you are pregnant or breastfeeding, the FDA recommends discussing your options and specific situation with your health care provider, since there is no experience using the drug in these populations. If you could become pregnant, it’s recommended that you use effective barrier contraception or do not have sexual activity while taking Paxlovid.

It’s important to note that although health care providers can write a prescription, pharmacists may also provide Paxlovid (with certain limitations) if they’ve opted to do so, provided you can share your electronic or printed medical records, including a list of medications you are already taking, and blood test results from the last 12 months.

Paxlovid might be the latest advancement as far as battle for CoViD-19 is concern, a lot of people are still having a lot of questions about this Drug. We will try to update everyone about this. What’s more important is, people’s lives are now going back to normal one day at a time. Let’s hope and pray that this Virus will be eradicated for good as soon as possible.

Cheerio!