What treats COVID better? Monoclonal antibodies or antiviral pills?

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) – One COVID-19 treatment option is monoclonal antibodies. Injected as an infusion, it’s produced in a lab and targets the virus by binding to the spike protein thus preventing replication.

And then there are COVID-19 antiviral drugs. These are taken by mouth and also attach to the virus, but fight the infection by attacking the enzymes that allow the virus to replicate inside the cell.  

Both have shown to be successful in clearing COVID-19. But which one is better? News 8 spoke with Dr. Christopher Doehring, vice president of medical affairs at Franciscan Health, who says “in terms of effectiveness it’s kind of a draw.” 

“Antivirals are specifically intended to treat viruses and we do have a couple available,” he said. “The product from Pfizer Paxlovid certainly has comparable effectiveness to the monoclonal antibodies. It seems like it’s 80-plus percent at preventing severe illness and death.”

Doehring says, the fact that we have two types of treatment is a good thing. COVID is a moving target.

He goes on to say the antiviral pills do have a slight advantage. They are less invasive because they can be administered orally.