With increasing concerns about COVID-19 reinfection, Pfizer and the National Institutes of Health are discussing potential studies regarding a longer treatment period with the antiviral medication Paxlovid.

Reportedly, Pfizer is holding the company’s COVID-19 antiviral therapy Paxlovid under tight control. This is a disappointment to numerous investigators who want to test the antiviral combination therapy with other drugs in case the virus develops resistance to the combo.

Paxlovid

Rising COVID-19 cases are driving up the use of therapeutics, with Pfizer Inc.’s oral antiviral treatment Paxlovid seeing a 315 percent jump over the past four weeks, U.S. health officials said on May 17.

The Institute for Clinical and Economic Review recommended two out of three outpatient treatments for COVID-19 in the market, singling out molnupiravir as having inadequate evidence to support claims that it is better than symptomatic care.

As Paxlovid has become more widely used, some patients have reported that COVID-19 symptoms recurred after completing treatment and experiencing improvement.

Although 2020 was a tough year for the biopharma industry — and most other industries as well — it appeared to rebound significantly in mid-2021. However, biotech stocks are generally getting hammered during 2022, although to be fair, the entire stock market is down.

Paxlovid

Additional reports of patients with long COVID who were helped by Pfizer Inc.’s oral antiviral treatment Paxlovid offer fresh impetus for conducting clinical trials to test the medicine for the debilitating condition, U.S. researchers said on May 5.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration indirectly refuted Pfizer’s recommendation that it’s all right for COVID-19 patients to take another round of Paxlovid if they experience a rebound after completing the first course.

Pfizer

Pfizer Inc. maintained sales forecasts for the company’s pandemic products on May 3 after a series of hikes to revenue projections for its COVID-19 vaccine in 2021, in a sign that dizzying growth has slowed.

Pfizer Inc. on April 29 said a large trial found that the company’s COVID-19 oral antiviral treatment Paxlovid was not effective at preventing coronavirus infection in people living with someone infected with the virus.