You have COVID-19? Well, there is a pill for that!

BY SIMONE J. SMITH

For those who have been living in fear of COVID-19, there are now two new drugs that are awaiting authorization from the Food and Drug Administration for treating patients with COVID-19, and both may be effective against the omicron variant: one is made by Merck, the other by Pfizer.

Now, I want readers to recall that this is not the first time that something has been propagated to us, making us believe that once we took it, we would go back to normal, that things would be okay. I want you to really think about this over the next few months, as the numbers rev up, and they begin introducing new pills, and boosters.

Now, unlike the warp-speed vaccine, the Merck drug has been in development for years. When the pandemic began, Pfizer’s drug didn’t exist. The story of its development is another example of how COVID-19 has sped up the drug and vaccine development process, and that is not necessarily a good thing.

Pfizer claims that their new COVID-19 pill cuts the risk of hospitalization or death by 89% when taken within three days of symptom onset. The antiviral pill, PAXLOVID, was given in a placebo-controlled clinical trial to people with COVID-19 who were at high risk of developing severe disease. The pill works by inhibiting an enzyme called a protease, which the virus SARS-CoV-2 needs to keep replicating. Pfizer scientists claim that the trial went so well; they actually had to bring it to a stop. They now plan to submit the data to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for emergency use authorization.

Let’s take a quick look at their trial:

• More than 1,200 adults in the U.S. and abroad who tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 and had mild to moderate symptoms were enrolled in the clinical trial. Participants had at least one underlying condition or characteristic that made them at high risk of developing severe disease
• None of the participants were vaccinated
• Each participant took either PAXLOVID, in combination with ritonavir (an HIV drug that Pfizer says helps slow the breakdown of the antiviral drug, allowing it to stay in the body for longer), or a placebo pill every twelve hours for five days
• Out of 389 participants who took PAXLOVID within three days of symptom onset, only three were hospitalized and none died, while out of 385 people who took the placebo within three days, thirty-seven were hospitalized and seven died
• 607 participants who took PAXLOVID within five days of symptom onset (including the people who took the drug within three days), six were hospitalized and none died
• Out of 612 who took the placebo within five days of symptom onset, forty-one were hospitalized and ten died. Adverse events were similar between the placebo and the experimental drug groups, and most were mild
• PAXLOVID is a modified version of a decades-old drug that was first developed as an intravenous therapeutic during the SARS epidemic, but that now specifically targets SARS-CoV-2 and can be taken as a pill

Although Pfizer has not yet published details of its study, researchers seem impressed.

Once again, my question is, why do we always have to turn to pills, when the majority of us have immune systems that are capable of taking care of themselves? The answer is unfortunately, many of us do not have the immune systems, and there are also doctors and nurses who are more likely to turn to alternative and complementary medicine, but not advise their patients to do so.

Doctors are generally aware of what complementary medicine has to offer; in fact, they are better educated than most people about both orthodox and alternative medicine options. However, they are unable to suggest any natural health therapies to patients due to their employment contract.

Apparently, there are regulations by health insurance companies prohibiting doctors from suggesting natural non-drug treatments as a condition of their employment, and this is backed up by Medical Board Regulations. We all know that the medical industry is hugely profitable. If doctors start to prescribe or recommend natural supplements, what would that do to the pharmaceutical industry? It would cripple it.

Another reason why doctors ignore safe and sensible natural treatments in favour of prescription drugs is that the system teaches them only to advise and prescribe drugs. It is human nature to take the safe option and prescribe what is familiar, widely taught, and in line with what every other doctor is doing. The best way to take advantage of the wonders of modern medicine and get the benefit of ages-old wisdom is generally to supplement medical treatments with natural products, but please, check with your physician before

One of the key benefits of this new miracle drug is its ability to stop the coronavirus infection from replicating and spreading throughout the body. What if I told you that there were 150 natural compounds that are now potential candidates for development of new-anti-COVID-19 drugs with higher efficacy and lower toxicity than the existing therapeutic agents?

A recent study shows that several natural compounds have shown their promising actions on multiple therapeutic targets, which should be further explored. Among them, Quercetin, one of the most abundant of plant flavonoids, is proposed as a lead candidate with its ability on the virus side to inhibit SARS-CoV spike protein-angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) interaction, viral protease and helicase activities, as well as on the host cell side to inhibit ACE activity and increase intracellular zinc level (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S222541102031289X).

Before you sign up for a pill, talk to your doctor and see if there is a more natural way for you to take care of your body.