Bexovid reserved for COVID-19 patients with mild, moderate symptoms

The Department of Health (DOH) on Tuesday said that Bexovid, the generic and more affordable version of Pfizer's anti-COVID-19 Paxlovid, will be given to patients who experience mild and moderate symptoms.

During a Malacañang briefing, DOH Undersecretary and treatment czar Leopoldo Vega noted that the Bexovid will be given in a package to COVID-infected individuals for five days.

“Itong antiviral na po ‘to, ito’y maibigay sa mga pasyente with mild and moderate lalong lalo na sa mga high risk kasi talagang bababa ang kaniyang hospitalization and even death,” he said.

(This antiviral will be given to patients with mild and moderate symptoms, and those at high risk, because this will decrease their chances of getting hospitalized or dying.)

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has recently granted the DOH’s application for compassionate special permit for Bexovid. It would be distributed to government hospitals once it is supplied by Biocare Lifescience.

The treatment is said to reduce the risk of hospitalization or death by 89% if given within three days of the onset of symptoms and by 88% if given within five days.

“Ito ay talagang makakabigay ng medyo pagasa sa ating 2022 lalong lalo na itong pagharap natin sa COVID-19. At least meron na tayong mga gamot aside sa vaccination that we are pursuing,” Vega said.

(This will give us a sort of hope in 2022 especially while we face the COVID-19. At least we already have medicines aside from the vaccination that we are already pursuing.)

At present, the FDA has given emergency use authorization for the COVID-19 antiviral drugs casirivimab and imdevimab or Ronapreve, and molnupiravir or Molnarz.

“Ang unang antiviral kasi na lumabas sa market ay ‘yung molnupiravir na ginawa ng Merck. Pero ngayon sa kakalabas na mga resulta, mga 30-40% ang kaniyang reduction in hospitalization and death,” Vega said.

(The first antiviral drug that came out in the market was molnupiravir made by Merck. However, with the recent data, it only shows about a 30-40% reduction in hospitalization and death.)

Health Secretary Francisco Duque III earlier said that efficacy of molnupiravir under the brand name Molnarz, has gone down from 50% to 30% with more data coming in.

The Philippines' COVID-19 case count surpassed three million on Tuesday as the Department of Health (DOH) reported 28,007 new infections, bringing the country's tally to 3,026,473.—LDF, GMA News