VACCINES
MEMBER EXPERT
Australia approves two new medicines in the fight against COVID. How can you get them and are they effective against Omicron? On 20 January 2022, Health Minister Greg Hunt announced Australia’s drug regulator had provisionally approved two new medicines for the treatment of COVID. These are Lagevrio, made by American pharmaceutical company Merck Sharpe & Dohme, and Paxlovid, by Pfizer. With the number of hospitalisations and deaths due to the virus continuing to rise, the approval of these drugs comes at a good time.
Assoc Prof Kellie Charles University of Sydney Elise Schubert University of Sydney
The Federal Government has purchased a combined 800,000 courses of the pills, and said the drugs will initially be prioritised for the elderly and other high risk groups.
Merck’s Lagevrio (generic name: molnupiravir) is an antiviral drug that causes errors to be copied into the COVID virus whenever it replicates. This makes the virus less effective in causing disease.
Both companies say their drugs will work against the Omicron variant, though this is based on preliminary lab-based research.
Pfizer’s Paxlovid is a two tablet combination of a new drug called nirmatrelvir, and a drug already used to treat HIV called ritonavir.
Assoc Prof Nial Wheate University of Sydney
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What are they and how do they work?
Sentry
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FEBRUARY 2022
