Nirmatrelvir Speeds Recovery, Cuts Symptoms in COVID-19

Medscape

13 hours ago

TOPLINE:
In high-risk patients with COVID-19, nirmatrelvir/ritonavir treatment shortened the median duration to return to usual health and activities and significantly accelerated the resolution of COVID-19 symptoms while providing sustained relief from these symptoms compared with placebo.
METHODOLOGY:
Researchers analyzed patient-reported outcomes to assess how nirmatrelvir treatment affects symptom burden, work productivity, and health-related quality of life after COVID-19 diagnosis.
Overall, 2091 nonhospitalized, high-risk patients with COVID-19 (median age, 45 years; 50.4% men) were randomly assigned to receive either nirmatrelvir/ritonavir (300 mg/100 mg) or a placebo twice daily for 5 days.
Patients provided daily responses through day 28 to the Global Impression Questions regarding return to usual health, return to daily activities, and overall COVID-19 symptom severity
They also completed the COVID-19-specific Work Productivity and Activity Impairment questionnaire and the EuroQol 5-Dimension 5-Level questionnaire to evaluate work productivity and broader health-related quality-of-life measures through week 24.
TAKEAWAY:
Patients receiving nirmatrelvir/ritonavir returned to usual health a median of 3 days sooner than those on placebo
Treatment with nirmatrelvir/ritonavir was also linked to a 1-day reduction in median time to return to usual activities compared with treatment with placebo (11 days vs 12 days; P < .0001) and to faster sustained resolution of moderate-to-severe symptoms (P = .0025) and any symptoms
No significant differences were observed between treatment groups in the Work Productivity and Activity Impairment or EuroQol 5-Dimension 5-Level scores.
IN PRACTICE:
'The results of these exploratory analyses of patient self-reported global impression on health further demonstrate the efficacy of NMV/r [nirmatrelvir/ritonavir],' the authors wrote.
SOURCE:
The study was led by Wajeeha Ansari, MPH, Global Biopharmaceuticals Group, Pfizer Inc., New York City. It was published online on August 1, 2025, in Open Forum Infectious Diseases.
LIMITATIONS:
The delayed implementation of the electronic platform for collecting Work Productivity and Activity Impairment and EuroQol 5-Dimension 5-Level data limited the sample size. The study's focus on unvaccinated patients during the 2021 Delta wave may limit its generalizability to periods when other variants predominated; additionally, no information on long COVID was collected.
DISCLOSURES:
The study was supported by Pfizer Inc. Six authors reported being employees of Pfizer Inc. and possibly holding stock or stock options in the company. Two authors disclosed serving as unpaid advisors to the study funder; one of these authors also reported receiving royalties and consulting fees from various healthcare companies.
This article was created using several editorial tools, including AI, as part of the process. Human editors reviewed this content before publication.