Taking COVID pills at home is great. But you need to use them wisely. Otherwise, there is a risk of drug resistance and new variants.

GP can now be prescribed Antiviral drug for some Bring home to their vulnerable COVID-19 patients.Expected to be accessible to more patients Next weeks and months..

These medicines are given to people at high risk of serious illness at the onset of infection and prevent them from getting sick enough to have to go to the hospital. Therefore, these are important next steps in the fight against the pandemic. However, these antivirals should be seen as a silver bullet and another option for managing COVID-19.

These medicines are not suitable for everyone, especially pregnant women, and should be taken immediately after diagnosis. Not everyone will benefit. Second, there are theoretical risks that can help increase virus variants.

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Remind me, what are antiviral drugs?

The virus cannot propagate unless it invades the host cell, hijacks its mechanism, replicates, and spreads to the next cell.

Antiviral drugs interfere with some of this process. They prevent the virus from entering the cell, preventing it from replicating, or stopping its release.

Unlike previous COVID-19 antivirals such as remdesivir, these new antivirals are taken at home. This makes them easier to use and may worsen people with COVID-19 and eliminate the need to go to the hospital.

These pills are specially designed to target SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. Includes Omicron variant..

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Merck tablets

One of the newly approved antivirals is molnupiravir (brand name Lagevrio).This causes ~ Fatal mutation To the virus when it tries to replicate.

In a recently published study, Researchers treated 1,433 people within 5 days of symptoms and COVID-19 diagnosis. Half took Molnupiravir and the other half took placebo for 5 days.

All had at least one risk factor for severe COVID-19, such as diabetes, obesity, or serious heart, lung, or kidney disease. No one was vaccinated.

In the Molnupiravir group, 7.3% died of hospitalization or some other cause the following month, compared to 14.1% who took placebo. Comparing the two, this is a 48% risk reduction. Fifteen people need to be treated with medicines to prevent a single hospitalization or death. There were no serious side effects.

However, you need to be careful. Molnupiravir damages viral genes and causes mutations that prevent the virus from replicating. Therefore, it can also damage human genes, especially in dividing sensitive cells, such as fetal cells.At least that Laboratory studies show..

This means Molnupiravir It can not be used It is due to a pregnant or lactating mother and it is recommended that women of childbearing age use contraception while taking it.It can also cause in theory mutation In rare situations, it can lead to maternal and fetal health problems.

There is also Theoretical risk Mutations in the viral genome can lead to new viral variants that are resistant to the drug. Or it may avoid an immune response.

Molnupiravir is safe because it is used only for a short time.

However, concerns about the induction of new viral variants or virus resistance are in immunosuppressive people who may require longer courses of treatment, or vulnerable people who have been exposed to the virus but have not yet shown signs of infection. Restrict its use of.

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Pfizer treatment

Another newly approved drug is a combination of two drugs called paxlobido (nilmatrelvir and ritonavir).

Nilmatrelvir blocks the action of enzymes that the virus uses for replication in the meantime Ritonavir (also used in HIV medicine) raises the level of nirmatorelvir and maintains its effectiveness.

The test results of this agent are Just published.. The study enrolled 2,246 unvaccinated individuals with at least one risk factor for severe COVID-19. Within 5 days of diagnosis, they were treated with either drugs or placebo.

Treatment reduced COVID-19-related hospitalization or death from any cause by 89% in people treated within 3 days of the onset of symptoms compared to placebo. 16 people need to be treated to prevent a single hospitalization or death. There were no serious adverse events.

This treatment is also not recommended for pregnant or lactating people.

It can interact with many other medicines.And because it is removed from the body by the liver and kidneys, it Serious liver or kidney disease..

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Who gets them?

Words of caution. These antivirals are only evaluated in unvaccinated people. Therefore, it is not known how effective these drugs will be if vaccinated. This can be a problem as Australia has high levels of vaccination, including the most vulnerable.

Initially, their supply is likely to be constrained and will be prioritized to those at highest risk of serious COVID-19.

These antivirals may be too late for the vulnerable people we are most concerned about, such as those caring for the elderly in their homes and those with serious health problems.

This is because the immune response to the infection causes serious illness by the time some people become infected and develop symptoms. Therefore, older people may not be able to benefit from these antivirals as much as younger people.

You need to use them wisely

This new generation of antivirals is not a substitute for vaccination, masks, or improved indoor ventilation. These measures prevent people from getting infected in the first place.

If you don’t use these antivirals wisely, they have side effects and can make the virus resistant, just as bacteria become resistant to antibiotics.