The investigational antiviral ensitrelvir promises to accelerate recovery from mild to moderate COVID-19.
Investigators concluded that patients who received the investigational drug recovered from COVID-19 symptoms about 24 hours earlier than those in the control group. Additionally, participants in the ensiltrelvir group tested negative for SARS-CoV-2 about 29 hours earlier.
The drug, developed by Shionogi (TYO:4507), also promises to accelerate recovery from long COVID. However, some researchers stress that more data are needed to substantiate that claim.
Dr. Eric Topol, director of the Scripps Research Translational Institute in San Diego, told Nature that it is unclear whether Shionogi defined long COVID before the Phase 2/3 study began. Because Shionogi established the long COVID focus in the study’s exploratory phase, it is impossible to draw firm conclusions, Topol noted.
Two antivirals, Paxlovid (nirmatrelvir/ritonavir) and molnupira…