New Anti-Covid Pill Developed in China
The simnotrelvir pill is the latest breakthrough in the fight against Covid-19. This new anti-Covid pill has been shown to speed up recovery from the disease by approximately 1.5 days in mild-moderate cases. According to a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine, the drug shortens the duration of symptoms and is sold in China, where it has emergency use authorization from early 2023, at a lower price than its main competitor.
The pill takes effect almost immediately after taking it, relieving fever, cough, and runny nose. Saye Khoo, an infectious disease pharmacologist at the University of Liverpool, UK, has described the drug as “clearly a powerful drug” and “clearly welcome.”
The Sars-CoV-2 coronavirus has, as described by Bin Cao, a pulmonologist at the China-Japan Friendship Hospital in Beijing, “already become a routine respiratory virus in the general population.” Therefore, simnotrelvir has been tested especially on young people with standard risk levels. The researchers combined simnotrelvir with a component of Paxlovid, ritonavir, which limits the degradation of simnotrelvir.
However, the pill has its disadvantages, such as a bad taste and incompatibility with a number of common medications. Additionally, expanding its use is a concern as many doctors are still more concerned about preventing hospitalization and death in high-risk people. The bottom line is that, although new drugs are welcolme, none of them have the final say in terms of Covid antivirals.
This new pill comes as the WHO Europe has found that at least 1.4 million lives have been saved by anti-Covid vaccines. Without the vaccines, the cumulative death toll recorded in the European region could have been around 4 million. It is clear that while vaccines have been crucial in saving lives, the development of new drugs like simnotrelvir will continue to play a vital role in the fight against Covid-19.