Amid the debate about whether Paxlovid causes symptoms to return post-recovery, the latest research indicates that COVID-19 rebounds happen equally between those who do and don't take Pfizer's antiviral treatment.
When the FDA approved the treatment in December, data showed rebounds were rare, happening among 1 to 2 percent of its study participants.
After high-ranking people including President Joe Biden and Anthony Fauci, MD, had rebounds after taking Paxlovid, some researchers have said five days — the regimen's recommended regimen — is too short. A recent study from the National Institutes of Health seems to disprove this theory.
A research letter published Oct. 27 in JAMA found that among 158 study participants, rebounds occurred among people who took Paxlovid and those who took a placebo.
"I hope this can help people to be less afraid of a potential rebound," David Smith, MD, the study's lead author and an infectious disease specialist at UC San Diego Health, told The New York Times. "Symptom return is common [...] It doesn’t mean that things are going south. It's just the natural way the disease goes."