Lab studies show Pfizer’s COVID-19 treatment pill Paxlovid to be effective against the omicron variant, the company announced Tuesday.<\/p>\n
Pfizer said three separate lab studies showed nirmatrelvir, the drug’s main protease inhibitor, maintains its effectiveness against omicron. A protease inhibitor is a class of drugs that stop a virus from replicating.<\/p>\n
Pfizer announced the findings in a press release and said it was submitting them to pre-print medical journals.<\/p>\n
The emergence of the omicron variant has led to questions about the effectiveness of Paxlovid, as well as other COVID-19 treatments, because the variant has many more mutations compared to earlier strains.<\/p>\n
Paxlovid is seen as a major step forward in the fight against the virus, with trials showing that it reduced the risk of hospitalization or death by 89 percent in high-risk patients.\u00a0Some experts have suggested that because the drug is a protease inhibitor, it won\u2019t be as limited by mutations as other types of treatments.<\/p>\n
The Food and Drug Administration last month authorized Paxlovid for use in high-risk patients. The fact that Paxlovid is a pill rather than an injection,\u00a0as in previous treatments,\u00a0is expected to\u00a0make it more accessible and easier to take.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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