COVID-19 Oral Treatment Effective Against Omicron Subvariants as Well

Paxlovid, Lagevrio, and Injectable Remdesivir All Maintain Efficacy

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Young-won] It has been confirmed that oral COVID-19 treatments are also effective against Omicron sublineages.

On the 6th, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency's National Institute of Health announced that an evaluation of the antiviral efficacy of Paxlovid and Lagevrio against Omicron variant subtypes BA.1, BA.1.1, and BA.2 showed that their efficacy is maintained.

The institute assessed the antiviral efficacy against Omicron sublineages by measuring the drug concentrations at which viral replication was inhibited by about 50% at the cellular level for the two oral treatments.

Analysis results indicated that the antiviral efficacy against Omicron sublineage variants differed by 0.7 to 2.4 times compared to the Delta variant, but the efficacy was considered to be maintained.

Additionally, it was confirmed that Veklury injection (active ingredient remdesivir), which is used as an injectable treatment, also maintains antiviral efficacy against Omicron sublineage variants.

Kwon Jun-wook, director of the National Institute of Health, stated, "We plan to continuously evaluate the efficacy of treatments currently used domestically when new COVID-19 variants emerge," adding, "Through cooperation with the Antiviral Hub Laboratory operated by the Emerging Virus Research Center at the National Institute of Infectious Diseases, we plan to strengthen our capabilities in treatment development response, including advancing drug discovery technologies.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.