A preliminary study suggests that people living with HIV who are on antiretroviral treatment (ART) with protease inhibitors (PI) may have a lower risk of COVID-19 infection.
- The findings will be presented at this year's European Congress of Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases (ECCMID).
- Doctors in France studied over 500 HIV patients, a third of whom received long-term treatment with protease inhibitor drugs as part of their antiviral therapy.
- Pfizer Inc's (NYSE:PFE) Paxlovid is a protease inhibitor antiviral therapy.
- Related: Pfizer's COVID-19 Oral Therapy To Be Tested In Hospitalized COVID-19 Patients In UK: Reuters.
- Among participants being treated with PIs, over three-quarters were taking darunavir/ritonavir (131/169; 77%), around 8% were taking atazanavir/ritonavir (14/169), and the rest were treated with other PIs (24/169;14%).
- Over a year, SARS-CoV-2 infections were diagnosed in 12% of participants taking protease inhibitors and 22% of those not receiving these drugs.
- After accounting for other risk factors, individuals taking protease inhibitors were 70% less likely to become infected with SARS-CoV-2 than those not taking these drugs.
- Price Action: PFE shares are down 0.80% at $52.86 during the market session on the last check Tuesday.
