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Paxlovid does not significantly alleviate symptoms of COVID-19 compared with placebo among nonhospitalized adults, a new study published on April 3 in The New England Journal of Medicine found.

The results suggest that the drug, a combination of nirmatrelvir and ritonavir, may not be particularly helpful for patients who are not at high risk for severe COVID-19. However, although the rate of hospitalization and death from any cause was low overall, the group that received Paxlovid had a reduced rate compared with people in the placebo group, according to the researchers.

"Clearly, the benefit observed among unvaccinated high-risk persons does not extend to those at lower risk for severe Covid-19," wrote Rajesh T. Gandhi, MD, and Martin Hirsch, MD, both from Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, in an editorial accompanying the journal article. "This result supports guidelines that recommend nirmatrelvir–ritonavir only for persons who are at high risk for disease progression." Head over to Medscape to read the full story.