Unlike previous antiviral drugs for covid-19, a treatment called pegylated interferon lambda could be used for the omicron strain of the coronavirus or help people who have been vaccinated
Health
8 February 2023
Antiviral injections can treat covid-19 Frank Nowikowski/Alamy
A new antiviral medicine for covid-19, given as an injection within a week of developing symptoms, halves the number of people needing hospital treatment, a large trial has found.
The result is promising because the medicine seems to be as effective in people who caught the omicron variant as in those who got previous variants of the virus, as well as in people who are vaccinated.
The treatment, a compound called pegylated interferon lambda, was tested in a randomised trial of nearly 2000 people living in …