Biotech Values

[vinmantoo]

The biggest problem for the EDP-235 program right now is that people infected with COVID are mostly opting to do nothing and simply let the infection run its course, which is a major change in behavior from 12-24 months ago.

I guess it depends on how old you are and whether you have any co-morbidities. Vaccine status also plays into it. The segment of the population that has demonized PFE over their highly successful mRNA vaccine would likely not trust Paxlovid. That gives ENTA an opening, well that and its advantage of not needing a drug pump inhibitor. Easy for me to say as I am not company exec pushing their company to invest hundreds of million in a new Covid drug.

A study of a million high-risk people with Covid found that only about 15 percent who were eligible for the drug took it. If instead half of the eligible patients in the United States had gotten Paxlovid during the time period of the research, 48,000 deaths could have been prevented, the authors of the study, conducted by the National Institutes of Health, concluded.

It’s not because people don’t know about the drug — most do — but the reluctance seems to come from doctors worried about interactions with other drugs and people wary of a possible rebound case or the metallic aftertaste.

Dew, the above quote is from the NYT article you linked. I assume drug interactions doctors are worried about is due to the drug pump inhibitor being in the Paxlovid treatment. We haven't heard anything from PFE about their new anti-Covid drug that supposedly doesn't need a Ritonavir. By my estimate, that phase 2 trial ended some 4 moths or so ago so no news may mean it didn't do so well.