Reports of two patients who found relief from long Covid after taking Pfizer Inc's antiviral Paxlovid, including a researcher who tested it on herself, provide intriguing evidence for clinical trials to help those suffering from the debilitating condition, experts and advocates say.
Scientists cautioned these cases are"hypothesis-generating only" and not proof the drug caused relief of lingering symptoms. However, they lend support to a leading theory that long Covid may be caused by the virus persisting in parts of the body for months, affecting patients' daily lives long after acute symptoms disappear.
Paxlovid, which combines a new Pfizer pill with the old antiviral ritonavir, is authorised for use in the first days of a Covid infection to prevent severe disease in high-risk patients. Pfizer spokesperson Kit Longley said the company does not have any long Covid studies underway and did not comment on whether it would consider them.
Diana Berrent, founder of grassroots Covid-19 advocacy group Survivor Corps, has been lobbying the President Joe Biden administration to fund large long Covid clinical trials."That's not good enough.”In one of the case reports, published as a preprint ahead of peer review, a previously healthy and vaccinated 47-year-old woman became infected with Covid-19 in the summer of 2021.
"She's back to normal," said Dr Linda Geng, co-director of Stanford Health Care's long Covid clinic and author of the case report posted on Research Square.
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