Oral COVID Therapy to be available in Austria next week

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Novavax and Valeva are the latest two vaccines against Covid-19. Apart from vaccines, research is also being done on medicines, and there have been successes in this area.

From the middle of next week, the treatment of Covid 19 patients in Austria could become more accessible. Then, with the active ingredient combination nirmatrelvir/ritonavir (Paxlovid), the first oral therapy on prescription should become more widely available in Austria. Experts explained this on Wednesday evening at an online doctors’ training session organized by the Austrian Society for Infectious Diseases and Tropical Medicine (ÖGIT).

“It’s not quite clear yet. One hears that the time has come on 23 March. The drug will be free of charge. Every patient who needs it will have access to it,” said Susanne Rabady, second vice-president of the Austrian Society for General and Family Medicine (ÖGAM). There will “certainly not” be a duty on the part of chief physicians to prescribe at the expense of the health insurance system. No statements were made at the event about the quantities of the drug available for the time being.

“Paxlovid is used for the treatment of coronavirus disease (Covid-19) in adults who do not require supplemental oxygen and who are at increased risk of developing severe Covid-19,” the European Medicines Agency (EMA) said when it approved the drug. Clinical trials showed 89 percent efficacy in preventing hospital admissions or deaths from covid-19 in people at risk.