Drug resistance concerns grow, Pfizer refuses to provide new coronavirus oral drug Paxlovid to other organizations for research

On May 18, according to Endpoint news, as concerns grew about possible resistance to Pfizer’s new crown oral drug Paxlovid, the company refused to provide the drug to researchers for a combination stu.

Endpoints News has confirmed that Pfizer is evaluating a "multi-pronged strategy" that includes second-generation antivirals and combination therapi.

But concerns do exist, with scientists including a Rutgers University team saying a few months ago that they expected resistance to emerge as more people took Paxlov.

The FDA also said on May 4 this year that it was aware of some patients experiencing recurrent symptoms after taking Paxlovid and opposed Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla's recommendation for a second treatment for these patien.

NIAID chief Anthony Fauci told a White House news conference on Wednesday that the National Institutes of Health (NIH) is discussing with Pfizer a possible clinical study to determine whether longer courses of antiviral therapy are necessa.

Ashish Jha of the White House noted that in clinical trials, about 2 percent of patients in the Paxlovid group experienced a rebound in symptoms, compared with about 5 percent in the placebo gro.

Meanwhile, Bloomberg reports that Pfizer has refused to provide Paxlovid to multiple organizations, including the nonprofit Drugs for ignored Diseases Initiative (DNDi), which plans to study whether combining Paxlovid with other drugs could help reduce drug resistan.