antiviral news

Shinpoong Pharmaceutical said Tuesday that it received a decision from the European Patent Office (EPO) to grant a patent for Pyramax (pyronaridine phosphate-artesunate), which was approved for treating malaria last Friday.

GC Biopharma began distributing Pfizer’s oral Covid-19 antiviral Paxlovid in Korea this month, marking a complete shift from government-led to private sector-led supply starting in July. The Korean drugmaker said Monday it signed a co-promotion and distribution deal with Pfizer Korea.

The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) yesterday reiterated that Taiwan has sufficient antiviral medication for COVID-19 patients and emphasized the importance of vaccination, amid concerns raised by public figures.

AbstractObjectiveTo compare the effects of treatments for mild or moderate (that is, non-severe) coronavirus disease 2019 (covid-19).DesignSystematic review and network meta-analysis.Data sourcesCovid-19 Living Overview of Evidence Repository (covid-19 L-OVE) by the Epistemonikos Foundation, a public, living repository of covid-19 articles, from 1 January 2023 to 19 May 2024. The search also included the WHO covid-19 database (up to 17 February 2023) and six Chinese databases (up to 20 February 2021). The analysis included studies identified between 1 December 2019 and 28 June 2023.Study selectionRandomised clinical trials in which people with suspected, probable, or confirmed mild or moderate covid-19 were allocated to drug treatment or to standard care or placebo. Pairs of reviewers independently screened potentially eligible articles.MethodsAfter duplicate data abstraction, a bayesian network meta-analysis was conducted. Risk of bias was assessed by use of a modification of the Cochrane risk of bias 2.0 tool, and the certainty of the evidence using the grading of recommendations assessment, development, and evaluation (GRADE) approach. For each outcome, following GRADE guidance, drug treatments were classified in groups from the most to the least beneficial or harmful.ResultsOf 259 trials enrolling 166 230 patients, 187 (72%) were included in the analysis. Compared with standard care, two drugs probably reduce hospital admission: nirmatrelvir-ritonavir (25 fewer per 1000 (95% confidence interval 28 fewer to 20 fewer), moderate certainty) and remdesivir (21 fewer per 1000 (28 fewer to 7 fewer), moderate certainty). Molnupiravir and systemic corticosteroids may reduce hospital admission (low certainty). Compared with standard care, azithromycin probably reduces time to symptom resolution (mean difference 4 days fewer (5 fewer to 3 fewer), moderate certainty) and systemic corticosteroids, favipiravir, molnupiravir, and umifenovir probably also reduce duration of symptoms (moderate to high certainty). Compared with standard care, only lopinavir-ritonavir increased adverse effects leading to discontinuation.ConclusionNirmatrelvir-ritonavir and remdesivir probably reduce admission to hospital, and systemic corticosteroids and molnupiravir may reduce admission to hospital. Several medications including systemic corticosteroids and molnupiravir probably reduce time to symptom resolution.Systematic review registrationThis review was not registered. The protocol is publicly available in the supplementary material.

Yet less than one third of patients received antiviral drugs, perhaps owing to provider concerns about drug-related adverse effects or drug-drug interactions.

Healthcare workers are pictured at a testing centre for the coronavirus disease , in Buenos Aires, Argentina, January 6, 2022. — ReutersResearchers reported in The Lancet Respiratory Medicine that a class of drugs known as Janus kinase, or JAK, inhibitors, which work by slowing down the...