antiviral news

Postexposure prophylaxis with nirmatrelvir-ritonavir for five or 10 days does not reduce the risk for symptomatic severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection, according to a study published in the July 18 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.

Cocrystal Pharma, Inc. (Nasdaq: COCP) (“Cocrystal” or the “Company”) today reported favorable safety and tolerability results from the single-ascending dose (SAD) cohorts of the Phase 1 study in healthy volunteers with CDI-988, its potent, oral, pan-viral protease inhibitor. CDI-988 was specifically designed and developed using Cocrystal’s proprietary structure-based drug discovery platform technology as a broad-spectrum antiviral inhibitor to a highly conserved region in the active site of 3CL viral proteases. It is being developed as the first dual, broad-spectrum antiviral for the treatment of norovirus and coronaviruses.

Nirmatrelvir-ritonavir (Paxlovid) did not prevent people exposed to COVID-infected household members from getting infected with the virus, according to the final results of the phase II/III EPIC-PEP study. Across more than 2,700 exposed adults in the trial, symptomatic confirmed infections at 14 days occurred in 2.6% of those taking a 5-day course of the antiviral medication, 2.4% of those receiving a 10-day course, and 3.9% of the placebo recipients. Neither of those differences versus the placebo group were statistically significant (P=0.17 and P=0.12, respectively), reported Jennifer Hammond, PhD, head of antiviral development at Pfizer in Collegeville, Pennsylvania, and colleagues.

The findings showed lower risks of death, intensive care unit admission, and need for ventilation among Paxlovid recipients.

The history of tofacitinib (Xeljanz) is an example of an innovative treatment that could now be stifled under new Medicare drug pricing rules.

The Japanese market saw a big swing in sales of COVID-19 treatments in FY2023, with Chugai Pharmaceu...