(WXYZ) — One of the key tools in containing the COVID-19 pandemic has been antivirals. When given to patients early, medicines like Paxlovid have been shown to keep patients alive and out of the hospital.
Paxlovid and similar drugs have been free under an emergency use authorization, but that is coming to an end early in the new year.
Vaccines were the stars of the fight against COVID-19, but antiviral therapies like Paxlovid were also crucial in the effort according to Mark Fendrick, a professor of medicine and public health at the University of Michigan.
"This drug has led to decreased hospitalizations and decreased deaths," he said.
The CDC says a 5-day course of the oral medication cuts the risk of hospitalizations is cut in half. But, changes in this winter could mean an end to free access to these crucial drugs in 2023.
"It's pretty amazing that I believe over 8 million Americans have received Paxlovid at no cost," Fendrick said.
There is growing pressure to end COVID-19 health declarations, and when the cost is shifted from private insurers and patients with copays, Fendrick says use will go down.
And less use could mean more hospitalizations, particularly among the underserved and chronically ill.
"We basically are penny wise and pound foolish," Michael Greiner, an assistant professor of management at Oakland University, said.
He says the $530 cost the government pays for Paxlovid is small when you look at the big picture.
"People go into the hospital as a result of COVID-, which of course is a that's a direct cost," Greiner said.
But then there are the indirect costs like lost productivity and people hit hard with COVID-19 or long-COVID dropping out of the workforce. Greiner said keeping antivirals and vaccines free should be a clear choice.
"Versus not spending that money and then them potentially going into the hospital and missing a bunch of work. The tradeoff there really should be a no-brainer," Greiner said.
While private insurance may pick up a piece of the cost, some of those most at risk for severe outcomes are also the most sensitive to price, even seeming small copays. Especially at a time of climbing inflation.
According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, there are two drivers here.
The first is the government-purchased supply of medication is running out and Congress has been unwilling to allocate more money. Second, the public health emergency declarations that give the government added power to fight COVID-19 expire every 90 days and there are growing calls for those protections to go away.
