Paxlovid antiviral - coming next year, cuts hospital admission 90%

[MLMshouldbeillegal]

www.theguardian.com/world/2021/dec/14/pfizer-covid-pill-effective-protecting-against-severe-disease-omicron

All the doom-mongering about Omicron means this news has fallen off the radar. Even the Guardian are being positive about it.

Sounds like Pfizer have pulled it out of the bag again with an antiviral - still in testing - which preliminary results shows prevents 90% of vulnerable people going on to develop serious covid which needs hospital treatment.

This could be an amazing tool - people who test positive and are in that category could start taking antivirals straight away rather than waiting to see what happens. Testing in the unvaxxed though, suppose it remains to be seen how effective among the vaccinated.

But still. Hugely positive step forward. Wish i'd bought shares in Pfizer in January 2020.

Hooray! Some positive news! Let’s hope it lands with us sooner rather than later…

Great news! We need plenty of stuff like this.

How much does a course cost per patient?

It is going to be the sort of thing that once it comes fully on-stream, it will be readily available (say to all groups 1-9) ? Or will it be different clinical judgement if it is either/both eyewateringly expensive or in limited supply

I’ve always thought it would be treatments that ended the pandemic, rather than vaccines. This drug is very good. Less sold on the Merck one.

Isn't this just rebadged ivermectin 🧐😉😂😅🤣

Isn't this just rebadged ivermectin

I wouldn't like to comment.

In other news....

The US news channel most disparaging about ivermectin because it's a "horse dewormer" is heavily sponsored by Pfizer.

I wonder whether those who refuse vaccines will take it?

@Hizz

I wonder whether those who refuse vaccines will take it?

That'll depend on their reasoning.

If it's because something has been rushed through and they want many years of data (more than regulators require) then they won't, as this is even newer

If it's because of number of microchips therein, perhaps they might

Those who cannot receive vaccines for medical reasons (including severe and intractable needle phobia) might be a priority for treatment with retrovirals, as might those who are severely immune-suppressed who might not have formed a good response to their jabs