The U.S. Food and Drug Administration granted approval for the commercialization of Eli Lilly and Company and Incyte Corporation’s Olumiant (baricitinib), setting a precedent for COVID-19 treatments.

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.

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 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.

Gilead Sciences Inc. announced that first-quarter 2022 revenue rose 3 percent, helped by sales of the HIV drug Biktarvy and the COVID antiviral Veklury, but reported a net loss as the biotech company wrote down the value of its 2020 acquisition of Immunomedics following recent trial results for the cancer medicine Trodelvy.

Merck

Merck announced the company’s Q1 2022 results, reporting year-over-year revenue growth of 50 percent from continuing operations, with worldwide sales increasing to $15.9 billion. As anticipated, Merck’s COVID-19 antiviral treatment Lagevrio (molnupiravir) played a role in the company’s robust sales.

U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration is aiming to expand access to COVID-19 oral antiviral treatments like Pfizer Inc.’s Paxlovid by doubling the number of locations at which they are available, the White House said on April 26.

Gilead

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved Gilead Sciences’ antiviral therapy Veklury (remdesivir) as the first treatment for COVID-19 in young children.