Effect of Oral Nirmatrelvir on Long COVID Symptoms: 4 Cases and Rationale for Systematic Studies

Abstract

Background: Efforts to understand the impact of SARS-CoV-2 variants, vaccine status, and treatment on the development and persistence of Long COVID have intensified. Methods: We report 4 sequential cases from a post-COVID cohort study demonstrating variability in outcomes following differentially timed nirmatrelvir therapy, received as part of clinical care. Results: In the first case, the participant experienced symptomatic rebound and developed Long COVID despite early initiation of antiviral therapy. In the next 2 cases, participants reported improvement in persistent COVID symptoms when nirmatrelvir was taken 25 and 60 days following initial symptom onset. In the final case, an individual with presumed Long COVID for 2 years reported substantial improvement in chronic symptoms when taking nirmatrelvir following SARS-CoV-2 re-infection. Conclusions: These anecdotes suggest that systematic study of antiviral therapy for Long COVID is warranted.

Keywords

• SARS-CoV-2;
• Long COVID;
• post-acute sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 (PASC);
• antiviral therapy;
• nirmatrelvir;
• Paxlovid