Coronavirus

Yesterday, the FDA took a major step toward officially approving Paxlovid. Catch up on this story and the other top COVID-19 news updates from the past week.

The FDA's Antimicrobial Drugs Advisory Committee recommended approving Pfizer’s New Drug Application for Paxlovid to treat mild-to-moderate COVID-19 in adults at high risk of severe or fatal disease progression.

These investigators concluded Omicron XBB.1.5 the most successful COVID-19 variant of its lineage.

With this FDA emergency use authorization (EUA), all persons 6 months and older are now eligible to receive the Pfizer-BioNTech Omicron BA.4/BA.5-adapted bivalent booster.

COVID-19 patients had a significantly higher risk of cardiovascular disease and death in both the short- and long-term.

“Real-world” assessment finds nirmatrelvir-ritonavir reduces risk of severe COVID-19 from BA4 and BA5 omicron subvariants.

The benefits of COVID-19 vaccines waned over time and were less effective against the Omicron variant of the virus, a long-term meta analysis found.

A 4-dose COVID-19 vaccine regimen and prior infection with either the BA.1 or BA.2 variants were extremely effective against the Omicron BA.5 subvariant.

Nasal administration of the fully human anti-CD3 monoclonal antibody Foralumab modulated T cell inflammatory responses in COVID-19.

Use of early COVID-19 treatments did not reduce the risk of hospitalization or death, but did reduce long COVID symptoms after 3 months.

Children were hospitalized the most during the Omicron variant, but disease outcomes were the least severe during this variant period.

The most common reasons parents cited for hiding a child’s COVID-19 infection included an inability to stay home from work and wanting to make decisions about their child’s health without outside input from authorities.

In the 12-month period following COVID-19 infection, long COVID patients had an excess death rate of 16.4 per 1000 individuals.

A single dose of pegylated lambda-interferon delivered within a week of the start of COVID-19 symptoms appears to significantly reduce the likelihood that a patient will end up hospitalized from the disease.

The omega-3 fatty acids EPA and DHA may protect against COVID-19 by reducing inflammation.

A booster dose of mRNA COVID-19 vaccination during pregnancy increases protection of infants from infection and related hospitalization.

“The biggest take-home message is to treat early,” says remdesivir investigator Mark Thrun, MD.

Here's a recap of our most newsworthy coverage of the CROI 2023 conference.

Remdesivir reduces COVID-19 mortality, in hospitalized patients who both did and did not require oxygen.

A researcher who presented at CROI discusses this prolonged and debilitating condition.

A clinician presenting at CROI discusses the phenomenon and offers insights and considerations for treating patients who are dealing with this.

As COVID-19 evolves, learning how to live with a virus that has become endemic will have its challenges, but medical science will help the public be able to accept it.

Administered during the Omicron-dominant phase, the vaccine's efficacy was 73.2% in individuals 6 months to 4 years of age.

Why have “long COVID” cases become less frequent and less severe over time?

The 2023 changes include vaccines for influenza, pneumococcal disease, measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) and COVID-19.

Spherical hydrogel inhalation for enhanced lung defense (SHIELD) is an investigational inhalable that coats the airways and serves as a physical barrier against COVID-19.

The antiviral did not modify SARS–CoV-2 RNA clearance, and did not increase the risk of adverse events.

After an 18-month study, investigators determined none of the diseases examined were more frequent among the vaccinated than among the non-vaccinated.

A single-dose of peginterferon lambda demonstrated efficacy in a largely vaccinated cohort and the therapy accelerated clearance of the virus.

Chinese investigators said genome analysis suggests 2 existing Omicron sub-variants, BA52 and BF7, were among the most dominant variants in Beijing.