COVID-19 Treatment Effective Against Omicron Subvariants Including BA.5 (Update)

Maintaining Virus Replication Inhibition Efficacy
Oral Treatment and Veklury Both Effective

On January 14th, Paxlovid, an oral treatment for COVID-19, was delivered to a pharmacy in Guro-gu, Seoul. Photo by Jinhyung Kang aymsdream@

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Young-won] Oral COVID-19 treatments have been shown to maintain efficacy against Omicron subvariants, including BA.5, which are spreading domestically and internationally.

On the 21st, the Central Disease Control Headquarters announced the efficacy evaluation results of three COVID-19 treatments?Paxlovid, Lagevrio, and Veklury?against Omicron subvariants BA.2.12.1, BA.2.3, BA.4, and BA.5.

Through cell-level analysis, it was confirmed that the oral treatments Paxlovid and Lagevrio maintain their virus replication inhibition efficacy compared to the Delta virus.

The injectable Veklury also showed maintained antiviral efficacy against the four variants.

Kwon Jun-wook, Deputy Director of the Central Disease Control Headquarters and Director of the National Institute of Health, stated, "Although this is a cell-level analysis, it is expected to be effective if administered timely to confirmed patients." He added, "A study published this morning (the 21st) by a team in the New England Journal of Medicine showed similar results in cell-level efficacy analysis of existing treatments against Omicron variants."

The health authorities plan to announce the efficacy evaluation results for BA.2.75, which had one additional case confirmed on this day following the report on the 14th. Deputy Director Kwon said, "When a new variant emerges, verification procedures are conducted, and virus isolation and culturing are necessary. Since laboratory time is required for efficacy testing after culturing, we will inform you of the results later."

Previously, on May 6, the health authorities announced efficacy analysis results of COVID-19 treatments against Omicron BA.1, BA.1.1, and BA.2. The analysis confirmed that both oral and injectable treatments maintain efficacy against these three variants.

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