The High Authority for Health (HAS) authorized, on Friday January 21, the use of the antiviral Paxlovid from the Pfizer laboratory as a curative treatment against Covid-19. Paxlovid is the first anti-Covid antiviral to obtain early access clearance.
Following the opinion of the National Agency for the Safety of Medicines and Health Products (ANSM), HAS “authorizes early access to the Paxlovid treatment (nirmatrelvir/ritonavir) from the Pfizer laboratory for adults with Covid-19 who do not require oxygen therapy and are at high risk of progressing to a severe form of the disease”. It is therefore a treatment primarily intended for populations at risk (elderly people, immunocompromised individuals, etc.).
This pill is taken orally as three tablets per day for five days. It is recommended to take it as soon as possible after the positive diagnosis for Covid-19 and at most within five days of the onset of symptoms. Effective against the Omicron variant, this treatment would reduce the risk of being hospitalized or dying from Covid-19 by around 85%, according to clinical studies.
On prescription by general practitioners
The HAS notes, however, that the antiviral is contraindicated in people with severe hepatic insufficiency or severe renal insufficiency. It also points to the significant risk of drug interactions when taking Paxlovid for patients who are on another treatment.
“We have reserved 500,000 doses in 2022 and the first deliveries – a few thousand doses – are expected within a week”, announced Thursday the entourage of the Minister of Health, Olivier Véran, to Agence France-Presse. Its deployment will be done in particular through prescriptions by general practitioners to withdraw it in all pharmacies.
Antivirals represent a key complement to vaccines to protect against Covid-19, in particular because they are very easy to administer.
Until now, only the competing laboratory Merck offered an antiviral having been tested in the final phase. But his treatment would only reduce hospitalizations and deaths among high-risk adults by 30%, he said in November.