Here are monoclonals and anti Covid drugs that really work (according to AIFA)
Monoclonals and anti Covid drugs have not always made everyone agree, but here is what the Aifa monitoring numbers and its president Giorgio Palù say in this regard
They do not replace vaccines – which prevent infection and disease – but both monoclonals and anti-Covid drugs such as antivirals have had and will continue to play an important role in this health emergency. This was stated by the president of the Italian drug agency (Aifa), Giorgio Palù, in an interview with Corriere della sera .
The virologist also admitted, however, that monoclonals – first rejected then used little and now unavailable, at least as regards Sotrovimab, the only effective against the Omicron variant – "if used early in a context of territorial proximity they could have saved many lives, but it hasn't always happened ”.
WHAT THE AIFA THINKS ABOUT MONOCLONALS
For Palù, one of the first supporters of monoclonal antibodies, these drugs "remain the antivirals with greater activity". Had they been used more with the previous variants , when they were able to counter them, "they could have saved many lives," the virologist said.
“Omicron – he explained – has the highest number of mutations found so far in Sars-CoV-2. Thanks to them it has become more transmissible, more equipped to evade the antibody response triggered by vaccine and natural infection and capable of resisting the therapeutic efficacy of most monoclonal antibodies ".
Today, regarding the race to the unavailable Sotrovimab, he added that "stocks have been increased by the commissioner" and that "we need to invest in the production of other monoclonals designed on Omicron and easier to administer".
HOW MUCH HAVE MONOCLONALS BEEN USED SO FAR
Speaking of numbers, Palù cited the data from the latest monitoring published by AIFA: “On the monoclonal front we have respectively 17,199, 21,061 and 5,149 prescriptions of two combinations and of Sotrovimab. The cost, around 2,000 euros per cycle, is borne by the commissioner ”.
WHAT THE AIFA THINKS ABOUT ANTIVIRALS
Antivirals such as Merck's Molnupiravir and Pfizer's Paxlovid , according to the president of Aifa, are "an indispensable aid to treat the disease already underway". They cannot replace vaccines because they do not prevent infection and disease, but they represent an additional tool especially for fragile individuals.
Furthermore, Palù recalled, one of the fundamental aspects of vaccines and drugs lies in "limiting the onset of new variants and facilitating the transition to the endemic phase".
HOW IS THE ADMINISTRATION OF ANTIVIRALS GOING
Meanwhile, a couple of days ago, the medical director of the Lazzaro Spallanzani Infectious Diseases hospital in Rome, Francesco Vaia , announced that the Paxlovid antiviral pill was administered to the first patient with Covid. It is a 54-year-old man, suffering from cardiovascular pathologies and symptomatic for 3 days.
“He took the first three pills at the hospital and will have to continue taking three in the morning and three in the evening for five days. Subsequently, once the prescription is over, he will have to be examined in the clinic to ascertain its effectiveness and undergo a check of his state of health ”, said Vaia.
During the interview Palù then recalled that neither the Remdesivir antiviral nor the monoclonals “should be judged as fallacious”. In Italy, according to the data updated on 1 February, the virologist explained “82,186 treatments have been started [with Remdesivir, ed .] In hospitalized patients and 2,060 non-hospitalized patients”.
THE EVOLUTION OF THE PANDEMIC
Finally, the president of Aifa reiterated that "it is too early to say whether Covid-19 is about to run out" because although it is true that the variant has acquired "new mutations that would make it unable to fuse effectively with the cells of the lung and cause severe pneumonia ”,“ it cannot yet be labeled as a common cold, especially in frail and unvaccinated subjects ”.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/sanita/monoclonali-e-farmaci-anti-covid-che-funzionano-davvero-secondo-aifa/ on Mon, 07 Feb 2022 10:12:46 +0000.