October 4, 2023- New Cleveland Clinic-led research shows commonly used COVID-19 anti-viral drugs Paxlovid (nirmatrelvir) and Lagevrio (molnupiravir) reduce risk of hospitalization and death in high-risk patients with mild disease, even with Omicron subvariants.
Both medications work by stopping the virus from replicating in the body. This reduces the chances of a patient getting more serious symptoms and being hospitalized. There are some restrictions for taking these oral antivirals, including potential interactions with other medications.
The observational study, published in JAMA Network Open, analyzed nearly 70,000 patients diagnosed with COVID-19 at Cleveland Clinic between April 2022 to February 2023. It found that nirmatrelvir lowered risk of death by 84% and molnupiravir by 77% compared to no treatment. Both drugs also reduced combined risk of hospitalization and death by over 40%. Importantly, the treatments were effective across all patient subgroups and against newer strains like BQ.1.1 and XBB.1.5.