A study conducted by Hong Kong University (HKU) Medical School found that two oral drugs, molnupiravir and ritonavir-boosted nirmatrelvir, could reduce the risk of death in COVID-19 patients if used at the early stage of hospital admission. Molnupiravir reduced the risk of all-cause death by 52 percent, while a 66 percent reduction was observed with patients taking nirmatrelvir-ritonavir.
The results were published online in The Lancet Infectious Diseases on Aug. 24.
Led by Assistant Professor Carlos King-ho Wong of the HKU Department of Pharmacology and Pharmacy, the team studied the efficacy of oral antiviral drugs against the omicron BA.2 subvariant.
Although there has been much research on the use of antivirals to treat COVID-19, the researchers said “this is the first real-world study to explore the inpatient use of oral antivirals during a pandemic wave dominated by the SARS-CoV-2 omicron variant.”…