International clinical trial found medicine which can prevented the disease with symptomatic covid -9s to people who were exposed to the virus. The results could be particularly important for families whose members are at high risk of serious complications from the disease.

The pharmaceutical substance Ensitrelvir is already approved in Japan for the treatment of mild to moderate COVID cases. The test has shown that it also has the ability to protect against the disease. Non -contaminated people who began to receive antiviral within 72 hours of the first appearance of symptoms in a household member were significant less likely to be offended by COVID-19 compared to people who received placebo.

Among most of the 2,000 participants in the test in US and other countries, 9% who received the placebo They developed Confirmed COVID-19. This is compared to only 2.9% of people receiving Ensitrelvir, that is a 67% reduction in the risk of COVID-19 illness.

“In addition to vaccination, the protection after exposure with timely taking an antiviral oral drug would be a valuable way to prevent COVID-19 illness to people who have been exposed, especially people with a high risk of serious disease,” points out by the peer professor of the Medical School of the University of Virginia, Frederick Heidenwho helped In the design of the test and presented the results of the test at the conference on retroviruses and opportunistic infections (CROI) in San Francisco.

The clinical trial was conducted between June 2023 and September 2024 And they were double blind, that is, neither the researchers nor the participants knew if they received Ensitrelvir or placebo. Among the trial participants, 37% had at least one risk factor for the development of serious (and potentially life -threatening) complications. The risk of developing Covid has declined significantly, and there were no hospitalizations or deaths in either groups.

Researchers describe the pharmaceutical substance as effective and in general well tolerated for the Prevention of Covid-19. Before the drug becomes available in the US, however, the Federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA) should approve it for this purpose.