I really hesitate to talk about Shionogi's covid antiviral, but....
It's once a day and unboosted. That's an improvement over Paxlovid.
But I am wondering just how much better it is when the dosing is reduced to 1 x daily.
By many metrics Paxlovid has been highly successful, but the ritonovoir boosting and twice daily dosing is a serious drawback. I have wondered.... what about the efficacy?
And I wonder the same about Shionogi's covid antiviral Xocova?
The once daily dosing is just that but the Day 1 -1st dose is a triple dose I believe. (375mg and 125mg thereafter)
I think it's a 5 day program and the viral declines *seem* on day six (which is to say after 5 doses) are close, but perhaps nearly undetectable - which I assume is aggregate- some probably were and some not quite. The viral shedding has ceased, but you have to wonder if that could account for rebounds.
Recall, we are seeing, or were seeing rebounds with Paxlovid as relatively common.
My point is IF Enanta were able to come up with a higher efficacy drug we might see a few improvements over existing antivirals;
1) A higher rate of undetectable at treatment end.
2) Fewer rebounds due to a longer period of holding undetectable
3) Same as #2 but possibly true due to EDP-235's greater tissue distribution.
4) The above 3 could impact on results for prophylaxis
5) A higher undetectable rate at end of treatment could mean a reduction in long covid.
6) The FDA is currently exploring long covid treatments as a potential label for antivirals.
We will very soon see the efficacy of EDP-235.
I have inferred a few things above.
From Luly I *think* I have the expectation of a 5 day 5 pill treatment, which suggests they don't need to do a larger loading dose. (we will see)
The results of the prophylaxis results on ferrets (I incorrectly wrote weasels above) slide 24 on the stickied post at forum top) seemed to be highly effective- also suggesting a potent antiviral.
Apologies as this is speculative, and some data on Xocova is a bit harder to come up with, and I am a true base layman with no credentials. : )
