Hong Kong study shows early use of antiviral drugs cuts risk of death in Covid-19 patients
- Large-scale study shows positive effects of two drugs given early to patients still in the community
- Pfizer drug also reduces risk of patients becoming severely ill, having to be admitted to hospital
The early use of antiviral drugs reduces the risk of death significantly in patients infected by the Omicron variant of the coronavirus causing Covid-19, a large-scale study in Hong Kong has found.
The study, which involved more than 10,000 people who were infected but not in hospital, was funded by the Health Bureau and carried out by the University of Hong Kong (HKU).
Slightly under half were given the drug molnupiravir, produced by Merck and sold as Lagevrio, while the rest received nirmatrelvir/ritonavir, made by Pfizer and sold as Paxlovid.
Their response to the orally administered drugs was compared with a much larger group of Covid-19 patients who did not receive the antivirals.
The researchers found that Nirmatrelvir/ritonavir reduced the mortality rate among patients by two-thirds compared with the control group, and also lowered their risk of becoming severely ill and ending up in hospital by almost a quarter.
Molnupiravir reduced the mortality rate by a quarter compared with the control group, but had no significant impact on reducing the risk of patients being hospitalised.
For those who had to be admitted in hospital, being on either antiviral slowed down the progression of the disease by more than two-fifths.
