“This study was one of the first to strongly suggest a benefit for the antiviral medication, nirmatrelvir-ritonavir, also known as Paxlovid, to prevent hospitalization and death for patients infected with recent Omicron SARS-CoV-2 variants,” Neil Aggarwal, lead author of the study and an associate professor of medicine at the University of Colorado School of Medicine, said in a UC news release.