The Valley Spectrum
  • Login
  • Top Stories
  • J&K
  • National
  • International
  • Business
  • Health
  • Sports
  • More
    • Entertainment
    • Technology
No Result
View All Result
  • Top Stories
  • J&K
  • National
  • International
  • Business
  • Health
  • Sports
  • More
    • Entertainment
    • Technology
No Result
View All Result
The Valley Spectrum
No Result
View All Result

As Omicron Spreads Across US, New Covid Drugs In Short Supply

by VS Desk
January 1, 2022
in International
0
As Omicron Spreads Across US, New Covid Drugs In Short Supply
0
SHARES
0
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

New Delhi: New treatments for early Covid-19 are now beginning to arrive at pharmacies in New York and elsewhere but remain in short supply, according to a representative of the Infectious Diseases Society of America.

“I know patients who have actually gotten outpatient prescriptions in New York City” of Pfizer Inc.’s Paxlovid, Aaron Glatt, professor and chair of the Department of Medicine at Mount Sinai South Nassau in Oceanside, New York, said Thursday in an interview. 

Doctors are anxiously awaiting the new medications as highly transmissible omicron spreads across the U.S. and the world, leading to record case numbers in many regions. While the new variant appears less dangerous overall than earlier strains, the sheer number of cases is threatening health systems. 

Paxlovid and Merck & Co.’s molnupiravir have been authorized by the Food and Drug Administration to keep non-hospitalized high-risk patients from needing admission. So far, they work better against omicron than antibody therapies from Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc. and Eli Lilly & Co. that were cleared for the same purpose. 

Also still in very short supply: sotrovimab, the only monoclonal antibody known to work against the omicron variant. Supplies of the infused drug from GlaxoSmithKline Plc and Vir Biotechnology Inc. are also expected to improve in the coming weeks, Glatt said.

Paxlovid beat out the other options in updated guidelines issued Thursday by the U.S. National Institutes of Health. In order of preference for treatment of non-hospitalized patients at high risk of severe Covid, the guidelines also listed sotrivimab, followed by Gilead Sciences Inc.’s infused remdesivir and, in last place, molnupiravir. 

The Merck drug should  be used only when the other options can’t be, according to the guidelines. Molnupiravir works by inducing genetic errors, and the FDA has recommended against using it in people younger than 18 or those who are pregnant or likely to become pregnant.

For now, the drugs are only being used in patients at highest risk, because of their scarcity, Glatt said. Pfizer has said that under a federal contract, it expects to have courses of Paxlovid for just 180,000 patients in 2021, but enough for millions next year.

The drugs may not be widely available in the U.S. now, but in the coming weeks — after holiday schedules return to normal — supplies should improve, Glatt said. 

VS Desk

VS Desk

Next Post
US’s ‘Make Contingency Plans’ Warning For Americans Travelling Abroad

US's ‘Make Contingency Plans’ Warning For Americans Travelling Abroad

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recommended

Sensex surges 533 points, Nifty settles above 18,200 to end near 3-month high

Sensex surges 533 points, Nifty settles above 18,200 to end near 3-month high

3 years ago
Communal Violence

Communal Violence

4 years ago

Popular News

Plugin Install : Popular Post Widget need JNews - View Counter to be installed

Connect with us

  • About
  • Advertise
  • Careers
  • Contact
Call us: +1 234 JEG THEME

Copyright © 2021 The Valley Spectrum. The Valley Spectrum not responsible for the content of external sites.

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In
No Result
View All Result
  • Top Stories
  • J&K
  • National
  • International
  • Business
  • Health
  • Sports
  • More
    • Entertainment
    • Technology

Copyright © 2021 The Valley Spectrum. The Valley Spectrum not responsible for the content of external sites.