Chinese drug matches Paxlovid in treating less severe Covid symptoms, study finds
- Patients who took the Chinese pill, known as VV116, recovered after a median time of 4 days and it had fewer adverse effects compared with the Pfizer drug
- However, researchers from Shanghai said they could not determine its efficacy reducing the risk of serious illness or death because of a lack of trial data
According to the study, published in the peer-reviewed New England Journal of Medicine on Wednesday, patients who took the pill, known as VV116, recovered after a median time of four days, compared with five for those who took Paxlovid.
The researchers also found that the incidence of adverse events was lower in the VV116 group compared to the Paxlovid group.
However, while Paxlovid has already been shown to be 88 per cent successful in reducing hospitalisation or death among high-risk, unvaccinated individuals, the efficacy of VV116 in reducing severe symptoms could not be determined.
“Among adults with mild-to-moderate Covid-19 who were at risk for progression, VV116 was noninferior to nirmatrelvir – ritonavir [Paxlovid] with respect to the time to sustained clinical recovery, with fewer safety concerns,” the authors said in the study.
VV116 is a derivative of Gilead Sciences’ Remdesivir, the first antiviral drug approved by the US regulators for the treatment of Covid-19 and is delivered by injection.