Several companies, including Pfizer, are developing antiviral drugs that could halt the progression of COVID-19 symptoms or prevent the onset of disease for close contacts of people with infections. Theoretically, the therapeutics would be another tool used to fight the coronavirus alongside vaccines.
Former Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Scott Gottlieb is confident there will be some successes, noting that the coronavirus isn't "a hard virus to drug in terms of how it replicates." But there is a bit of a race against the clock on this issue, although the reason for that probably won't be the worst thing you've heard since the pandemic began.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
Greenpeace, Energy Transfer and the demise of environmental activismThe Explainer Court order forcing Greenpeace to pay $660m over pipeline protests will have 'chilling' impact on free speech, campaigners warn
-
The UK's best spa townsThe Week Recommends From Bath to Buxton, these historic towns are perfect for a relaxing break
-
Crossword: March 25, 2025The Week's daily crossword
-
Five years on: How Covid changed everythingFeature We seem to have collectively forgotten Covid’s horrors, but they have completely reshaped politics
-
RFK Jr. offers alternative remedies as measles spreadsSpeed Read Health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. makes unsupported claims about containing the spread as vaccine skepticism grows
-
Texas outbreak brings 1st US measles death since 2015Speed read The outbreak is concentrated in a 'close-knit, undervaccinated' Mennonite community in rural Gaines County
-
Mystery illness spreading in Congo rapidly kills dozensSpeed Read The World Health Organization said 53 people have died in an outbreak that originated in a village where three children ate a bat carcass
-
Ozempic can curb alcohol cravings, study findsSpeed read Weight loss drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy may also be helpful in limiting alcohol consumption
-
New form of H5N1 bird flu found in US dairy cowsSpeed Read This new form of bird flu is different from the version that spread through herds in the last year
-
Microplastics accumulating in human brains, study findsSpeed Read The amount of tiny plastic particles found in human brains increased dramatically from 2016 to 2024
-
FDA approves painkiller said to thwart addictionSpeed Read Suzetrigine, being sold as Journavx, is the first new pharmaceutical pain treatment approved by the FDA in 20 years
