"Game-changer" Paxlovid turns into pandemic enigma

Paxlovid use surged over the summer, with as many as one-third of reported coronavirus cases treated with the drug.

But uncertainty over what’s causing the relapses, and whether the drug helps younger patients, is making some people wary of taking the treatment, physicians say.

At least part of the problem is that people are not routinely tested after taking Paxlovid, which makes it hard to establish how often rebound happens or why the virus lingers in some people, Leana Wen, an emergency physician and a professor at George Washington University, told CNN.

A large study of more than 109,000 people in the New England Journal of Medicine concluded the drug significantly reduced hospitalizations and deaths among patients aged 65 and older but that there was no evidence of benefit in younger adults.