Introduction
nirmatrelvir, death, infections
ASYMPTOMATIC COVID-19, VIRUS, DISEASE, INFECTIONS
Effective antiviral drugs and monoclonal antibodies accelerate viral clearance and prevent progression to severe disease and death in early COVID-19.Although widely purchased by governments and promoted in the private health sector, molnupiravir and nirmatrelvir have not been compared directly or compared with other COVID-19 therapeutics. As a result, current use largely depends on availability, cost, estimates of effect from preregistration studies conducted earlier in the pandemic, and perceptions regarding potential drawbacks (ie, tolerability and viral rebound Clinical outcomes depend on the clinical and immune status of the study population and the virulence of the virus. COVID-19 has become substantially milder, although severe infections still occur, particularly in groups at high risk. The increasing rarity of deterioration requiring hospitalisation and death mean that prohibitively large comparative studies are needed to detect clinically important differences. We therefore aimed to assess the in-vivo antiviral activities of molnupiravir and ritonavir-boosted nirmatrelvir in adults with early symptomatic COVID-19.