Anti-covid treatments are gradually being installed, in addition to vaccination.
This Monday, the High Authority for Health published an opinion in favor of the reimbursement of paxlovid, a drug created by Pfizer.
This antiviral must be taken orally for five consecutive days and less than 5 days after the onset of symptoms.
On January 22, the High Authority for Health had already authorized it for “adults with Covid-19 not requiring oxygen therapy and at high risk of progressing to a severe form of the disease”.
"Registration for reimbursement of this treatment should facilitate the prescription of Paxlovid in community medicine and therefore its access for patients", hopes the HAS.
Recommended by WHO
Last Friday, the WHO strongly recommended this drug for patients with less severe forms of Covid-19 and “at higher risk of hospitalization”.
For WHO experts, the nirmatrelvir/ritonavir combination "is the drug of choice" for unvaccinated, elderly or immunocompromised patients, according to an article in the British Journal of Medicine.
For this same type of patients and symptoms, the WHO has also issued a “weak recommendation” for remdesivir from the American laboratory Gilead, which it had previously advised against.
Reduction in hospitalizations
Paxlovid should be preferred over Merck's molnupiravir or remdesivir as well as monoclonal antibodies, says the organization, which continues to campaign for vaccination.
Paxlovid "reduces the number of hospitalizations more than alternatives, has fewer potential risks than the antiviral molnupiravir, and is easier to administer than intravenous options such as remdesivir and antibody treatments", explained the Dr. Janet Diaz, head of the clinical team in charge of the response to Covid-19 during a press briefing in Geneva.
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