Health: The case for testing Pfizer’s Paxlovid for treating long Covid – Gulf Digital News

Health: The case for testing Pfizer’s Paxlovid for treating long Covid – Gulf Digital News

Reports of two patients who found relief from long Covid after taking Pfizer Inc's antiviral Paxlovid, including a researcher who tested it on herself, provide intriguing evidence for clinical trials to help those suffering from the debilitating condition, experts and advocates say.

The researcher said her chronic fatigue symptoms, which "felt like a truck hit me," are gone after taking the two-drug oral therapy.

Long Covid is a looming health crisis, estimated to affect up to 30% of people infected with the coronavirus. It can last for months, leaving many unable to work. More than 200 symptoms have been associated with the condition, including pain, fatigue, brain fog, breathing difficulty and exhaustion after minimal amounts of physical activity.

Dr. Steven Deeks, a professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco (USSF), and an expert in HIV cure research, said drug companies tend to discount single-patient case studies. But such instances have helped drive HIV cure research, and Deeks thinks these Paxlovid cases could do the same for long Covid.

“This provides really strong evidence that we need to be studying antiviral therapy in this context as soon as possible," said Deeks, adding that he has heard of yet another anecdotal case at