Navarros pharmacies and hospitals will begin to administer Pfizer's antiviral medication to patients at high risk for COVID-19 from April 4. It's called Paxlovid. The first 166 boxes were received in Navarre on 29 March, and the Government of Navarre has indicated that they expect to receive a further 392. The Spanish Government has made available to the CAV a total of 556 such treatments.

COVID-19 is not a treatment for all patients. It is aimed at adults who, although not hospitalized, are at risk of serious illness. It will also be given to people who have severe problems with immunity (transplants or blood cancers), who have not been vaccinated for more than 80 years, or who, despite receiving the vaccine, are at high risk.

And the regimen for taking the medication is to start taking the symptoms within the first five days, with a five-day treatment.

Much less effective antibody bodies

The Government of Navarra has recalled that studies on the efficacy of this medicinal product were carried out in patients who were not vaccinated and that therefore the efficacy of the vaccine in vaccinated persons is unknown. However, they have warned that the effectiveness of this drug was ten times lower in people with antibodies developed against COVID-19.

Benefits and risks of Paxlovid

Here you can read the report of the Spanish Medicines Agency for Paxlovid. It explains that they tested people over the age of 18 who had another serious illness (diabetes, asthma, heart disease...), but had not passed COVID-19 before and, therefore, had not developed antibodies. The results indicate that in this investigation 12 people died among the patients taking placebo and none among those taking the drug.

Paxlovid is a medicine that should be taken with caution: patients who have problems with their kidneys should take it in a lower dose. In addition, many other medicines can cause serious collateral damage, so the Government of Navarra has indicated that it is the doctor who has to decide whether it is in the interests of each patient or not.

The Spanish Government spends EUR 253 million on this medicine

On 8 February the Council of Ministers agreed to increase an extraordinary loan of EUR 253 million in the budget of the Department of Health. As the number of medicines is limited, the Spanish Government has reached a bilateral agreement with Pfizer to ensure doses.

Part of the treatment is the medicine used to fight AIDS

Paxlovid treatment requires taking two pills. One is called PF-07321332, composed of cyan, oxopyrrolidin, ethyl, dimethyl, trifluoroacetamido, butanoyl, azabicecum, hexane, carboxamide.

And the other pill is ritonavir, which is given along with other AIDS medicines.