These antivirals treat COVID-19 in people at high risk of severe disease, and they must be started within days of symptoms beginning to work. Paxlovid blocks the protease the virus needs to assemble itself and is the most effective of the three, but it interacts with a long list of common medicines. Remdesivir and molnupiravir instead sabotage the copying of the viral genome.
Class descriptions are written by the Priya Life Science editorial team. Individual drug pages combine that summary with live label, approval, manufacturer and shortage data from the U.S. FDA via the openFDA API. This page is general information and is not medical advice — it is not exhaustive, drugs within a class are not automatically interchangeable, and approvals and brand names differ between the US, EU/Ireland (EMA/HPRA) and other regions. Always consult the official prescribing information and your clinician or pharmacist. Related: Drug Shortages Tracker · FDA Approvals · All drug comparisons