Covid-19 patients with a history of cardiovascular disease are at an increased risk of developing severe illness and could benefit most from the Covid-19 treatment Paxlovid – but there’s a catch.
Paxlovid can have dangerous interactions with some of the most common medications for cardiovascular disease, including certain statins and heart failure therapies, a new paper warns. The review paper, published Wednesday in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, lists dozens of cardiovascular medications and whether they are safe to give along with Paxlovid or whether they could have interactions.
Some medications such as aspirin are safe to take with Paxlovid, according to the paper, but other drugs could have interactions, and therefore, their dosage should be adjusted or temporarily discontinued while a patient is taking Paxlovid. When President Joe Biden tested positive for Covid-19 and started Paxlovid in July, his physician Dr. Kevin O’Connor temporarily took him off Crestor and Eliquis, two heart medications that the President takes for his pre-existing conditions. Doctors say there is no short-term risk to stopping these drugs.