Angeles Cruz Martinez
Newspaper La Jornada
Wednesday, August 3, 2022, p. 13
The Ministry of Health (Ssa) received the first 39,000 treatments of Paxlovid, an antiviral with the ability to stop the replication and obstruct the activity of the coronavirus, manufactured by Pfizer. They are pills whose use is only recommended in the first five days of symptoms and only in people at risk of developing serious complications, requiring hospitalization and even dying from this cause.
In Pfizer’s clinical trial, the product reduced the risk of hospitalization and death by 88 percent, according to the federal government’s clinical guide for treating covid-19. More than six months after the federal government’s announcement that the drug would be purchased, the first shipment has arrived and a larger one is expected in mid-August.
Paxlovid will be available starting this week in hospitals in the country that have personnel trained in its use, which would be the national health institutes and highly specialized hospitals, as well as IMSS and Issste hospitals.
The most relevant part of the training is to correctly identify the people who can take it, explained Hugo López-Gatell, Undersecretary of Prevention and Health Promotion.
The antiviral contains nirmatrelvir and ritonavir, which can have significant and complex drug interactions. In fact, the guide includes a list of 65 medications with which there may be a risk of toxicity.
Before prescribing Paxlovid, specialists should carefully review a patient’s concomitant medications, including over-the-counter medications and herbal supplements, to assess for potential drug interactions, the guidance, updated March 2022, warns.
In recent months, Gustavo Reyes Terán, head of the Coordinating Commission of the National Institutes of Health and High Specialty Hospitals, explained (the day2/27/22) that individuals with low defense systems have a lower response to vaccines and less antibody production, and are the ones who should receive Paxlovid.
These are older adults, people with cancer undergoing chemotherapy, with an autoimmune condition (arthritis or lupus), and those who have received an organ transplant. Also, HIV/AIDS carriers who do not receive antiretroviral treatment. In addition to significantly reducing the risk of complications and death, Paxlovid limits the possibility of developing new variants, said the specialist.
The treatment is not indicated for individuals with kidney failure or hospitalized for covid-19. Nor should it be taken as a method of pre-exposure or post-exposure prevention to the coronavirus, highlights the clinical guide.
