(HealthDay News) — For adults with mild-to-moderate COVID-19, early administration of simnotrelvir plus ritonavir shortens the time to sustained resolution of symptoms, according to a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine.
Bin Cao, MD, from the Institute of Respiratory Medicine in the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences in Beijing, and colleagues enrolled 1208 patients at 35 sites in China with mild-to-moderate COVID-19 and onset of symptoms within the past 3 days to receive 750 mg of simnotrelvir plus 100 mg of ritonavir or placebo twice daily for 5 days (603 and 605 patients, respectively).
The researchers found that the time to sustained resolution of COVID-19 symptoms was significantly shorter in the simnotrelvir group than the placebo group (180.1 vs 216.0 hours) among patients in the modified intention-to-treat population. The decrease in viral load from baseline was greater in the simnotrelvir group than in the placebo group on day 5 (mean difference, −1.51 ± 0.14 log10 copies/mL). A higher incidence of adverse events during treatment was seen in the simnotrelvir group versus placebo group (29.0% vs 21.6%); most of the adverse events were mild or moderate.
“Early administration of simnotrelvir plus ritonavir was effective in shortening the time to symptom resolution among adult patients with COVID-19, without evident safety concerns,” the authors write.
The study was funded by the Jiangsu Simcere Pharmaceutical Co., the manufacturer of simnotrelvir.
References:
Cao B, Wang Y, Lu H, et al. Oral simnotrelvir for adult patients with mild-to-moderate Covid-19. N Engl J Med. 2024 Jan 18;390(3):230-241. doi: 10.1056/NEJMoa2301425
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