Fewer than 170 doses of ‘game-changer’ Covid-19 drug given to Irish patients

Fewer than 170 doses of an antiviral pill that prevents people becoming seriously ill with Covid-19 have been given to Irish patients.

Since it was made available two months ago, just 169 doses of Paxlovid have been prescribed – 24 in hospitals and 145 in the community.

Cases and hospitalisations have been rising as new sub-variants of Covid-19 spread but wider use of Paxlovid and other antivirals could help avert serious illness in vulnerable patients.

Provision of the drug, heralded as a “game-changer” by Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly, is more restricted in Ireland than in the United States or the United Kingdom. Aside from immunocompromised people, use is officially limited to the unvaccinated and some vaccinated older patients.

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Some patients have complained about difficulties accessing Paxlovid, which needs to be taken within five days of a person becoming infected.

One MS patient told The Irish Times it took him three days to get a prescription. “I spoke with two GPs and neither was aware they were responsible. They thought it was up to my neurologist. The HSE has not educated the medical community properly.”

Michael Rynne, of blood cancer group CLL Ireland, said patients are not aware of its availability. “I’ve spoken to cancer patients recently who are going through treatment and they were not informed about Paxlovid or if they were eligible.”

Paxlovid is manufactured by Pfizer at Irish plants in Ringaskiddy and Newbridge. Although the HSE has claimed availability is limited internationally, the US pharmaceutical giant says it can produce up to 120 million packs worldwide by the end of this year.

In the US, up to 200,000 Paxlovid prescriptions are being filled each week as the country experiences a surge in cases. Patients are tested and treated with antivirals in the same centre.

The UK, which has ordered five million doses and provided the drug to more than 32,000 patients, contacts at-risk people directly and provides antivirals when either a PCR or antigen test is positive.

The HSE says information on Paxlovid and its use, which is confined to people “at the highest risk”, has been circulated to acute hospitals and GPs.

Paxlovid, which has some side effects, has been shown in trials involving unvaccinated people to reduce the risk of hospitalisation and death from Covid-19 by 89 per cent.

Use of another new treatment, Sotrovimab, has halted in Irish hospitals, data shows, though 688 doses were dispensed earlier in the year. The HSE says it is less effective against the currently circulating BA.2 form of Omicron.

A third promising treatment, Evusheld, is still in the process of being assessed for cost-effectiveness.

More than 300 people with Covid-19 died in March, and another 300 in April.