What is the latest medication for COVID-19?
Paxlovid is the latest COVID-19 treatment that's been all over the news. The drug was granted an emergency use authorization (EUA) by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in December for anyone ages 12 and older who weighs at least 88 pounds, and is at high risk for severe disease.
What are some benefits of taking the COVID-19 treatment Paxlovid?
Paxlovid is an oral antiviral pill that can be taken at home to help keep high-risk patients from getting so sick that they need to be hospitalized. So, if you test positive for the coronavirus and a health care provider writes you a prescription, you can take pills at home and lower your risk of going to the hospital.
What is the current dominant COVID-19 strain in the US?
June 28, 2022, at 1:17 p.m. CDC: BA.4, BA.5 Now Dominant in U.S. A pair of omicron subvariants that only recently started circulating in the U.S. have taken over as the dominant coronavirus strains, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Is there any oral treatments for COVID-19 available in Australia?
The TGA provisionally approved the first oral treatments for COVID-19 in Australia, molnupiravir (Lagevrio®) and nirmatrelvir + ritonavir (Paxlovid®), on 18 January 2022. Find out more about oral treatments for COVID-19.
How often can you take the COVID-19 treatment Paxlovid?
How often do I take Paxlovid? You take three Paxlovid pills twice daily for five days for a full course that adds up to 30 pills. It helps that the pills are packaged in a “dose card,” basically a medication blister pack that allows you to punch out the pills as needed.
Does Paxlovid have side effects?
“Paxlovid is usually very well-tolerated,” he says. Common side effects, which are usually mild, include: Altered or impaired sense of taste. Diarrhea.
Are there different variants of COVID-19 in the US?
SARS-CoV-2 is constantly changing, and new variants of the virus are expected to occur. In early 2021, the Alpha variant emerged, followed by the Delta variant later that summer. In late 2021 and throughout early 2022, the Omicron variant swept across the country and continues to be the predominant variant circulating in the United States.
What are some symptoms of the COVID-19 BA.4 and BA.5 Omicron subvariants?
According to experts, most of the symptoms of recent subvariant are the same as other strains of COVID, including a stuffy nose, body aches, sore throat, sneezing, headache, coughing, fatigue and more.
Does the Omicron COVID-19 variant cause more severe disease?
Omicron infection generally causes less severe disease than infection with prior variants. Preliminary data suggest that Omicron may cause more mild disease, although some people may still have severe disease, need hospitalization, and could die from the infection with this variant.
What are some of the medications that I can take to reduce the symptoms of COVID-19?
Acetaminophen (Tylenol), ibuprofen (Advil, Motrin) and naproxen (Aleve) can all be used for pain relief from COVID-19 if they are taken in the recommended doses and approved by your doctor.
Can Vitamin D help treat COVID-19?
There is evidence that vitamin D may enhance immune functions in human cells and reduce the spread of some viruses in the laboratory setting. However, there is very limited information about the safety and effectiveness of using vitamin D for treating or preventing COVID-19 (as of August 7, 2020)(source). If your healthcare professional finds that you have a Vitamin D deficiency, it should be treated regardless of COVID-19. The best way to learn how to treat COVID-19 is to conduct randomized controlled clinical trials.
What can you take to lessen the mild COVID-19 symptoms at home?
Using over-the-counter medications when necessary. If you have a high fever, you can take a fever reducer, such as acetaminophen, to help bring it down. If you have body aches, a sore throat or cough, a pain reliever can help lessen the discomfort these symptoms can bring.
Overview
Regulatory status and off-label use
Misinformation, lower degrees of trust, and a sense of despair over increasing case and death counts have led to an increase in ivermectin's use in Central and Eastern Europe, Latin America, and South Africa. A black market has also developed in many of these countries where official approval has not been granted.
The viral social media misinformation about ivermectin has gained particular attention in South …
Research and clinical guidelines
Some in vitro drug screening studies early in the pandemic showed that ivermectin has antiviral effects against several distinct positive-sense single-strand RNA viruses, including SARS-CoV-2. Subsequent studies found that ivermectin could inhibit replication of SARS-CoV-2 in monkey kidney cell culture with an IC50 of 2.2–2.8 μM. Based on this information, however, doses much higher than the maximum approved or safely achievable for use in humans would be required fo…
Intellectual property and economics
As the patent on ivermectin has expired, generic drug manufacturers have been able to enjoy significantly increased revenue prompted by the spike in demand. One Brazilian company, Vitamedic Industria Farmaceutica, saw its annual revenue from ivermectin sales increase more that fivefold in 2020 to, US$85 million.
In Australia in 2020 Thomas Borody, a professor and gastroenterologist, announced that he had …
Misinformation and advocacy
Ivermectin became a cause célèbre for right-wing figures promoting it as a supposed COVID treatment. Misinformation about ivermectin's efficacy spread widely on social media, fueled by publications that have since been retracted, misleading "meta-analysis" websites with substandard methods, and conspiracy theories about efforts by governments and scientists to "suppress the evidence."
Aftermath
The widespread misconduct found in ivermectin/COVID-19 research has prompted introspection within the scientific community.
Australian epidemiologist Gideon Meyerowitz-Katz wrote "There are no two ways about it: Science is flawed". Meyerowitz-Katz estimates that as of December 2021, credence in flawed research had led to ivermectin being perhaps the most used medication worldwide during the pandemic, and t…
See also
• Big Pharma conspiracy theory
• COVID-19 drug repurposing research
• COVID-19 misinformation