COVID sucks, no doubt about it. Vaccination has been a game changer for how we live through the pandemic, but we still need therapeutics for those breakthrough cases and the unvaccinated amongst us. Paxlovid is a novel anti-viral agent that showed promise in an initial industry-sponsored trial among unvaccinated patients with the delta strain. But does it hold up in the real world where vaccination is common, and omicron has pushed delta to the wayside? Dr. Jarvis reviews the initial RCT and a recent Israeli observational trial where more than 75% of patients were vaccinated. He also covers the contraindications for its use. Finally, he’ll no doubt massacre the almost impossible-to-pronounce generic names for the drugs in Paxlovid.

Citations: Najjar-Debbiny R, Gronich N, Weber G, et al. Effectiveness of Paxlovid in Reducing Severe Coronavirus Disease 2019 and Mortality in High-Risk Patients. Clinical Infectious Diseases. Published online June 2, 2022:ciac443. doi:10.1093/cid/ciac443 2.Hammond J, Leister-Tebbe H, Gardner A, et al. Oral Nirmatrelvir for High-Risk, Nonhospitalized Adults with Covid-19. N Engl J Med. 2022;386(15):1397-1408. doi:10.1056/NEJMoa2118542