The pharmaceutical company Pfizer announced yesterday Friday that a large clinical trial showed that the antiviral pill Paxlovid did not prove effective in preventing coronavirus infection in people who were staying with someone who had been exposed to the virus.
The trial involved 3,000 adults who had contact with a family member who was experiencing symptoms of Covid-19 and had previously been diagnosed positive for coronavirus. Some were given Paxlovid for 5 or 10 days and the rest were given a placebo.
Those who received the five-day treatment were found to be 32% less likely to be infected compared to those who received the placebo. This increased to 37% in those who received the ten-day treatment.
However, the results are not considered statistically significant and therefore may have been due to chance. Pfizer said that the safety data in the clinical trial were similar to those of previous studies, which had shown that the pills were 90% effective in preventing hospitalization of Covid-19 patients in so-called high-risk groups if given for five days shortly after the onset of the first symptoms.
"While we are disappointed with the outcome of this study, these results do not affect the strong efficacy and safety data we have observed. CNA
Contents of this article including associated images are belongs Cyprus Times
Views & opinions expressed are those of the author and/or Cyprus Times
Source
