A simple tablet to take at home: the promise of Paxlovid, the first drug for adults against Covid-19, is a dream come true, after months of health restrictions, vaccine doses and repeated tests.
The High Authority for Health gave the green light on Friday January 21 to the use of the antiviral Paxlovid as a curative treatment against Covid-19. Following the opinion of the National Medicines Agency, the 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 to high risk of progression to a severe form of the disease,” she said in a statement.
This pill is taken orally as three tablets per day for five days. It is recommended to take the treatment as soon as possible after the positive diagnosis for Covid-19 and at most within five days of the onset of symptoms.
This curative treatment therefore remains reserved for people at risk of having a severe form of the coronavirus, with little or no protection by the vaccine (very elderly, immunocompromised people, suffering from certain rare diseases, etc.). Its prescription and its obtaining are thus very supervised. Only doctors can prescribe this drug, after consultation. As soon as the symptoms appear, it is therefore necessary to make an appointment to rule out in particular any contraindication or risk of drug interaction, and the list is quite long. The HAS notes, however, that the antiviral is contraindicated in people with severe hepatic insufficiency or severe renal insufficiency.
At the same time, of course, a test must be carried out to confirm the origin of the infection. If the conditions are met, the practitioner, after recording the data on a dedicated site, issues a specific prescription, equipped with a QR code. The patient then collects the tablets from his pharmacist who, too, must carry out checks before delivery.
So many precautionary measures which are linked, among other things, to the fact that Paxlovid only obtained a derogatory, early and temporary authorization from the High Authority for Health. 500,000 doses have been ordered but only a few thousand will be available in the coming days, knowing that doctors believe that its use will be very limited anyway.
Effective against Omicron, it reduces the risk of being hospitalized or dying from the disease by around 85%, according to clinical studies.