BUFFALO, N.Y. (WKBW) — Pfizer has chosen the University at Buffalo Jacobs School of medicine for a pediatric study of the COVID-19 medicine Paxlovid.
Paxlovid, developed by Pfizer, is now being evaluated in Western New York children who are:
- Ages 12 to 17
- Weigh at least 88 pounds
- Symptomatic with COVID-19 infection
- At risk of progression to severe disease
UB said Pfizer initiated an international clinical trial in March to test the drug in children who meet the above criteria. As part of the trial, Paxlovid will be tested in 140 pediatric participants at clinical sites globally including at the UB Jacobs School.
“This is a perfect example of how clinical research at the Jacobs School may directly benefit the health of Western New Yorkers and specifically those most at risk of becoming severely ill with COVID-19."
- Allison Brashear, MD, vice president for health sciences and dean of the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences
“As the pediatric chief of service for the Kaleida Health System and its Oishei Children’s Hospital, I see which kids are getting admitted with COVID-19. While many adults admitted to hospitals for other conditions are often found to be COVID-19 positive incidentally, our doctors at Oishei see fewer of those. Almost half of all kids admitted to Oishei with COVID-19 over the past few months have these underlying conditions, placing them at higher risk for progressively symptomatic COVID-19 infections. Some of them wind up in our pediatric intensive care unit. So, when I learned about this trial, I said, ‘This is really important; we need to be doing this here.’”
- Steven E. Lipshultz, MD, A. Conger Goodyear Professor and Chair of Pediatrics in the Jacobs School
