Global drugmaker Merck reported Oct. 6 its COVID-19 antiviral treatment, Lagevrio, did not reduce hospitalizations and deaths in a trial sponsored by the University of Oxford, adding to other indicators that COVID-19 treatments are losing their strength.
In a study of more than 25,000 people — with nearly all of them vaccinated and 95 percent received three or more COVID-19 vaccine shots — comparing Lagevrio to usual care, the primary endpoint of reducing hospitalizations and deaths within 28 days was not met.
A separate Lagevrio study of 13,569 people, researchers found a lower rate of hospitalizations and deaths among patients 65 and older, but not among younger adults, according to Merck.
Recent data on other COVID-19 treatments also show a slowing of efficacy.
The only COVID-19 preexposure prophylaxis treatment with emergency use authorization, AstraZeneca's Evusheld, may not be as effective against new variants, the FDA said Oct. 3. In mid-September, the World Health Organization placed GSK's treatment sotrovimab and Regeneron's drugs, casirivimab and imdevimab, in its "strong recommendations against" tier.