Israel based scientists found out that the rates of hospitalization and death due to COVID-19 were significantly lower among those who received nirmatrelvir in patients 65 years of age or older.
At the beginning of the surge of the omicron variant in January 2022, the Israeli authorities decided to pursue two lines of defense to protect the vulnerable and high-risk populations from severe Covid-19: a second booster dose and antiviral therapy.
Treatment with nirmatrelvir is currently recommended by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) as the first choice for antiviral therapy for non hospitalized adults who are at high risk for disease progression, regardless of vaccination status. Nevertheless, the NIH stated that data on the clinical efficacy of nirmatrelvir against the omicron variant are lacking, despite in vitro studies that showed potent inhibition of this variant by nirmatrelvir.
The study suggests that during the omicron surge, the rates of hospitalization and death due to COVID-19 were significantly lower among adults 65 years of age or older who had received treatment with nirmatrelvir than among younger adults who had received such treatment, regard- less of whether a patient had previous SARS-CoV-2 immunity.
Author said that, "Our study has several limitations. As in any retrospective cohort study, various confounders may have caused bias in the observed effective- ness. We attempted to overcome biases in the risk of hospitalization by adjusting for the vari- ables that are known to affect severe Covid-19 outcomes. Nevertheless, we may not have mea- sured, or corrected adequately for, some sources of residual confounding and selection bias, such as differences in early diagnosis and differential access to nirmatrelvir therapy."
