What You Need to Know About the COVID Treatment Pill
Written by Leslie K. Hughes
Medically reviewed by Dr. Ariella Morrow
Recently the FDA issued an authorization for the emergency use of Pfizer’s Paxlovid “for the treatment of mild-to-moderate coronavirus disease.” This is the first approved pill of its kind and additional therapies are being tested in clinical trials to see their efficacy in helping with the treatment of COVID.
Since it seems like COVID treatment pills are the new hot trend on the COVID scene, it’s important that we take the time to get to understand them better and how they may be able to help with this pandemic.
The Details on Paxlovid
Paxlovid is a two-drug regimen that was created to take for a total of five days after the first signs of COVID symptoms. The treatment is administered in two 150mg tablets of the newly developed nirmatrelvir antiviral medication, taken along with a 100mg tablet of ritonavir, an antiviral drug that has been in use for many years treating HIV). Nirmatrelvir helps stop the COVID virus from multiplying in the body. Ritonavir is a helper medication and the two together work to stop COVID virus particles from multiplying.
The pills are intended to be taken every 12 hours for 5 days, and a prescription is required.
It is meant for people who are at a high risk of developing a severe case of COVID-19 and is aimed at keeping the development of the virus from getting to a place where the person would require hospitalization.
Paxlovid’s Efficacy
A clinical trial showed that Paxlovid was 89% effective in “preventing hospitalizations and deaths in patients at high risk of severe illness.” The people that were part of this clinical trial were all unvaccinated, so then comes the question of whether vaccinated people could benefit from the use of this treatment pill. It is key to note that the patients in the trial were given the pill within three days of their first COVID symptoms.
To answer that question, Pfizer will be running a clinical trial that includes vaccinated people, and the expectation is that Paxlovid will work for everyone, regardless of vaccine status.
The Availability of Paxlovid
In January, the Biden administration ordered 20 million courses of Paxlovid as COVID-19 cases have been hitting record highs. It is hoped that a few million of those courses will be available anytime now, with 10 million more available by June.
These treatment pills will be available via prescription only, but Biden said in November that “his administration is working to ensure that the treatments are free and accessible.”
Other COVID Treatment Pills
Paxlovid isn’t the only COVID treatment pill in existence, but it is currently the best option. Merck also came out with a pill called molnupiravir that has been given emergency authorization use by the FDA, but stated that “Molnupiravir is limited to situations where other FDA-authorized treatments for COVID-19 are inaccessible or are not clinically appropriate and will be a useful treatment option for some patients with COVID-19 at high risk of hospitalization or death.”
The clinic trial of this pill showed that it was only “modestly effective,” and showed that it could potentially cause birth defects if it was taken during pregnancy. Thus, the FDA gave their emergency authorization use along with a list of warnings.
It is clear that scientists and researchers are still in the beginning phases of creating COVID treatment pill options, but exciting headway is being made. We expect to see the continued success of clinical trials with additional treatment pills that will provide more options for patients who are high-risk and find themselves suffering from COVID.
As COVID continues to spread, regular testing is the best way to keep yourself and those around you safe. In addition to testing, it is important that you get vaccinated, boosted, wear your mask in public, and continue to wash your hands.
