The catch? One part of the drug, a ritonavir booster, has the same impact on a range of other drugs, increasing their potency to a potentially dangerous level in some cases.
A patient on blood thinners could end up with spontaneous bleeding in the gastrointestinal tract or brain, noted Evans. Someone taking pills for hypertension might see their blood pressure fall so much they pass out, said Dr. Andrew Hill, a pharmacology researcher at the U.K.’s Liverpool University.
“There are all kinds of ways that Paxlovid could cause serious harm,” he said.
Ritonavir is used in HIV treatments, too, so there is a wealth of knowledge about those conflicts. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) product monograph for Paxlovid lists over 100 drugs that it says should not be taken with the COVID pills or whose use ought to be carefully monitored.
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