(ANSA) – ROME, APRIL 14 – For patients with Covid who have a higher risk of incurring severe forms of the disease, the use of the antiviral nirmatrelvir (Pfizer molecule known by the trade name of Paxlovid) together with a commonly used HIV drug (ritonavir) reduces the risk of hospitalization by almost 90% and almost eliminates the risk of death. This is what emerges from an international clinical trial whose results were published in the New England Journal of Medicine.
The trial, which took place between July and December 2021, involved 2,246 people with symptomatic Covid who were not vaccinated and who had at least one risk condition, for example over 60 years, diseases that involve an inefficient immune response, obesity, diabetes, hypertension, cancer, lung, cardiovascular or kidney disease. Half of them received a placebo in the 5 days after the onset of symptoms, the other half the two antivirals: it was in fact observed that the addition of low doses of ritonavir is able to enhance the efficacy of the anti-viral molecule. SARS-CoV-2.
Among the patients treated with the two antivirals, 8 out of 1,039 (0.77%) needed hospitalization and none died. In the control group, 66 hospitalizations of 1,046 participants (6.31%) and 12 deaths were recorded. The reduction in the risk of hospitalization was 87.8%.
“Our data show that treatment with nirmatrelvir plus ritonavir early in the disease can prevent progression to severe disease and rapidly reduce SarsCoV2 viral load,” the researchers conclude. (HANDLE).
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