A small examine printed Monday discovered that the COVID-19 antiviral remedy Paxlovid could have use as a remedy for lengthy COVID when administered outdoors of an an infection.
Administration of Paxlovid throughout a SARS-CoV-2 an infection has beforehand been linked to a decrease threat of growing lengthy COVID signs. However a examine printed within the Nature science journal suggests taking the remedy could have advantages for folks with lengthy COVID after they’re not experiencing an energetic an infection.
Paxlovid is really helpful to be used inside 5 days of COVID-19 signs when somebody checks constructive for the virus. The remedy is a spherical of two medicine — two nirmatrelvir drugs and one ritonavir capsule — which are taken twice day by day for 5 days.
The patient-led analysis collaborative that labored on the examine checked out 13 folks identified with lengthy COVID who took rounds of Paxlovid lasting longer than 5 days. The contributors had infections stemming from COVID-19 variants like the unique pressure from 2020, the delta variant and the omicron variant.
The contributors took Paxlovid from seven-and-a-half days to 30 days. The group included individuals who had COVID-19 infections between 2020 to 2023.
Of the 13 contributors, seven mentioned they skilled an enchancment of their lengthy COVID signs and 5 of these contributors mentioned they skilled sustained enchancment.
One 56-year-old male participant who was contaminated in 2020 with the unique pressure of COVID-19 first accomplished a regular five-day course of Paxlovid in September 2022 with no enchancment in his lengthy COVID signs.
However after taking an prolonged 15-day course of Paxlovid in December, the participant reported enhancements in his neurocognitive signs. One week after finishing his remedy, he reported an “almost complete resolution” of his signs.
The authors of the examine acknowledged the restrictions of their evaluation.
“First, while this study is large for a case series, it is still only reporting on the experiences of 13 individuals, who may or may not be representative of the experiences of all patients with Long COVID,” they wrote. In addition they famous that the contributors had been all folks with sufficient “technological savvy to communicate over the internet or phone” and spoke English proficiently.
The examine was additionally self-reported by sufferers, leaving room for recall bias or fatigue bias. However the examine authors additionally pointed to its strengths, together with its novelty and seize of knowledge that will have been missed by conventional medical data.
“While the case series findings are heterogeneous, we describe the use of long courses of Paxlovid as a potentially promising pharmaceutical treatment to support at least some people with Long COVID,” wrote the researchers. “These cases provide strong rationale for the ongoing study of antivirals for Long COVID to determine if, when, and how they should be used in this patient population.”
One of many authors, Micharl Perluso, reported one battle of curiosity as he has served as a guide for Gilead Sciences and AstraZeneca, opponents of Paxlovid’s producer Pfizer.
