‘Signal toward benefit’
Commenting on the findings for this news organization, Abhijit Duggal, MD, vice chair of critical care at the Cleveland Clinic, who was not involved in this study, said, “I’m always very wary when we look at observational data and we start saying the effectiveness is not really as high as was seen in other studies. We are seeing an effect with all these studies that seems to be in the right direction.
“Having said that,” he added, “is the effect going to be potentially more in patients at higher risk? Absolutely. I think these postmarket studies are really showing that after vaccination, if someone does get infected, this is a secondary option available to us that can prevent progression of the disease, which would likely be more severe in immunocompromised patients.”
Dr. Duggal was a coinvestigator on a recent study of more than 68,000 patients that showed that nirmatrelvir-ritonavir or molnupiravir was associated with reductions in mortality and hospitalization in nonhospitalized patients infected with the Omicron variant, regardless of age, race and ethnicity, virus strain, vaccination status, previous infection status, or coexisting conditions.
“In all groups, there was a signal toward benefit,” said Dr. Duggal. “These studies tell us that these drugs do remain valid options. But their use needs to be discussed on a case-by-case basis with patients we feel are deteriorating or at a higher risk because of underlying disease processes.”
The study was supported by funding from the British Columbia Ministry of Health. Dr. Dormuth and Dr. Duggal report no relevant financial relationships.
A version of this article appeared on Medscape.com.