The antiviral medication Nirmatrelvir/ritonavir (Paxlovid) may reduce the chance of developing long COVID, researchers report.
In a large study of veterans’ medical records, Nirmatrelvir/ritonavir lowered a person’s chance of hospitalisation or dying from all causes in the six months following a COVID-19 infection. And the drug reduced the risk of developing 10 of 13 long-term health problems, Xie Y et al (2023) reported on March 23 in JAMA Internal Medicine.
On average, the drug lowered the relative risk of developing the conditions by 26%.
The antiviral drug provided protection against some heart problems, blood clots, kidney damage, muscle pain, fatigue, shortness of breath and two neurological conditions. But it did not lessen the chance of developing liver disease, cough or of getting diabetes after a COVID infection.
Nirmatrelvir/ritonavir has previously been shown to reduce the chance that susceptible people will be hospitalised or die from COVID.
Nirmatrelvir/ritonavir reduced the risk of post-COVID conditions regardless of whether the infection was their first, or if they had had prior bouts with earlier variants. Interestingly the drug also lowered long COVID risk for unvaccinated people, for those who were vaccinated with one or two doses, and for people who had at least one booster shot.
