Pfizer Covid drug Paxlovid may reduce the danger of long Covid: Study

Individuals who take Pfizer‘s Covid antiviral treatment Paxlovid shortly after infection may reduce their risk of developing long Covid, no matter their age, vaccination status or infection history, recent research suggests.

The study, published within the journal JAMA Internal Medicine on Thursday, found that individuals who took Paxlovid inside five days of a positive Covid test saw a 26% lower risk of long Covid compared with those that didn’t receive it. Greater than 35,000 people took the oral Covid pill within the study, while 246,000 didn’t. 

The study only enrolled people who find themselves eligible for Paxlovid under emergency use authorization. That features adults over 50, or those that have an underlying medical condition resembling hypertension or diabetes.

The findings suggest the advantages of Paxlovid may transcend what the drug is designed for, which is to treat adults and youngsters who’re at the next risk of ending up within the hospital or dying from a Covid infection. The drug still demonstrated that intended profit within the study, lowering the danger of death by 47% and hospitalization by 24% a couple of month after initial infection.

The brand new study comes as researchers work to fill the knowledge gap about long Covid, an often debilitating condition with limited data and no proven treatment available.

Long Covid refers to recent, returning or ongoing health issues greater than 4 weeks after an initial Covid infection, based on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Those issues can include fatigue, difficulty respiration, chest pain and brain fog, and might last for weeks, months and even years. The CDC estimates that 1 in 5 Covid survivors ages 18 to 64, and 1 in 4 survivors 65 or older, have an ongoing health issue that may be attributable to a previous infection. 

Most of what is understood about long Covid is that certain individuals are more vulnerable to it, and Covid vaccination likely provides some protection against it, based on Dr. Jessica Bender, co-medical director on the University of Washington’s post-COVID-19 Rehabilitation and Recovery Clinic. She called the brand new study “very exciting and promising” since it’s the primary to indicate an association between Paxlovid and a decreased risk of long Covid.

Dr. Anita Chopra, a board-certified internal medicine physician who sees patients at a University of Washington Medicine Primary Care center, added that prescribers can use the study results to encourage the uptake of Paxlovid. Eligible patients might be more reassured knowing the drug may result in a major reduction of their probabilities of developing the post-Covid condition, she said.

But Chopra acknowledged that the study was observational, meaning the researchers observed participants who did or didn’t take Paxlovid without intervening. It wasn’t a randomized controlled study – considered the gold standard for clinical research – where researchers intervene and might higher examine a possible cause-and-effect relationship between receiving a drug like Paxlovid and an consequence. 

Becker emphasized the necessity to conduct a randomized controlled study to “replicate these findings.” 

She said the study’s other limitation is it identified participants using health-care databases of the Department of Veterans Affairs. The researchers have to conduct studies in other patient populations outside of that health-care system, based on Becker.

The study comes as Paxlovid inches closer to winning full approval from the Food and Drug Administration, with the agency’s advisors voting overwhelmingly in support of the drug last week. The FDA is predicted to make a call in May. 

Greater than 12 million courses of Paxlovid have been delivered to pharmacies across the U.S., based on the newest federal data. Roughly 8 million Americans have taken the drug, with about 1.3 million doses available nationwide.

Correction: Becker said the study’s other limitation is it identified participants using health-care databases of the Department of Veterans Affairs. An earlier version misstated the name of the department.