The year saw breakthrough articles on highly successful treatments for sickle cell disease, β-thalassemia, rectal cancer, COVID-19, and malaria, and a terrific bionic pancreas for Type 1 diabetics.
nirmatrelvir
Yet another potential Covid treatment has fallen by the wayside. This time it's fluvoxamine, an antidepressant, which showed some promise in minimizing serious disease in small trials. But in a large, randomized trial, it flopped completely. The lesson? You need an antiviral drug to treat a viral infection – not a repurposed drug. These have all failed.
The Biden administration announced a "test to treat" plan to provide easy access to Paxlovid – an effective COVID antiviral drug – for anyone who's infected. It's not perfect, but it's sorely needed.
All of a sudden we have two (provisionally) FDA-approved COVID antivirals, which will be in pharmacies soon. They are quite different. Which is best for you?