by Bryson Durst, Student Public Relations Writer
Cedar Care Village Pharmacy, the teaching pharmacy for the Cedarville University School of Pharmacy, is now offering two antiviral medications that can help decrease the risk of COVID-19 hospitalization.
Both medications require a prescription and should be started as early as possible within five days of symptoms appearing.
“Cedar Care Village Pharmacy was fortunate to get early access to the antivirals, which is unusual for a small community pharmacy like this, due to our work late last year with the Ohio Department of Health in stocking and administering the monoclonal antibody REGEN-COV,” noted Dr. Justin Coby, the director of Cedar Care, located at 63 N Main Street in Cedarville.
The two medications are Paxlovid (nirmatrelvir-ritonavir) from Pfizer and Lagevrio (molnupiravir) from Merck. Both are available under emergency use authorization to patients 12 and older for Paxlovid and 18 and older for Lagevrio who test positive for COVID-19 and are at high risk of serious infection. That includes those who are 65 or older or who have underlying conditions that can lead to more severe outcomes from COVID-19.
Patients will likely pay a minimal cost as insurance generally covers antivirals.
Cedar Care treated 120 COVID-19 patients with REGEN-COV in the fall, but the treatment from Regeneron was found to be ineffective against the COVID-19 omicron variant that followed in December.
“We encourage patients who test positive for COVID-19 to contact their provider immediately and have them send over a prescription for one of the antiviral products,” Coby said. “It is paramount that these products be administered within five days of the first symptoms. The quicker patients can get this medication in hand the better.”
Located in southwest Ohio, Cedarville University is an accredited, Christ-centered, Baptist institution with an enrollment of 4,715 undergraduate, graduate and online students in more than 150 areas of study. Founded in 1887, Cedarville is one of the largest private universities in Ohio, recognized nationally for its authentic Christian community, rigorous academic programs, including the Doctor of Pharmacy program, strong graduation and retention rates, accredited professional and health science offerings and high student engagement ranking. For more information about the University, visit cedarville.edu.