Surprising News About Paxlovid

I was very surprised when I saw this Medpage Today headline this morning:

Paxlovid Fails to Shorten COVID in Standard-Risk and Vaccinated At-Risk Patients
— Drug still likely to benefit higher-risk patients, experts pointed out

"Nirmatrelvir/ritonavir (Paxlovid) failed to shorten COVID-19 symptom duration among people at standard risk for severe COVID-19 and among vaccinated people with at least one risk factor for severe disease, according to final results of the phase II/III EPIC-SRopens in a new tab or window trial.

"In vaccinated and unvaccinated patients with COVID-19 at standard risk for severe disease and in fully vaccinated people with at least one risk factor who took nirmatrelvir/ritonavir, the median time to alleviation of COVID-19 symptoms was 12 days, compared with 13 days in patients who took a placebo (P=0.60), reported Jennifer Hammond, PhD, development head of antivirals at Pfizer in Collegeville, Pennsylvania, and colleagues in the New England Journal of Medicineopens in a new tab or window."

-------------

Everyone I know who was prescribed Paxlovid for COVID told me they felt much better after they took it than before they took it.

Maybe it has a placebo effect, but it's a bit disappointing when something you assumed was a wonder drug turns out not to be. 

It's also a reminder to keep protecting yourself from getting COVID in the first place.