Since the COVID-19 drug, Paxlovid, works by blocking a protease enzyme, should I be concerned about taking digestive enzymes that contain proteases?

Written by Meredith Worthington, Ph.D. — Medically reviewed and edited by Tod Cooperman, M.D.

Updated January 20, 2022

Digestive enzyme supplements placed on a table between a fork and knife

Answer:

No, you should not be concerned about digestive enzyme supplements, but be aware that St. John's wort and supplements containing colchicine might interact with Paxlovid.

The proteases produced by your body and found in digestive enzyme supplements, which help digest protein in foods, are different from the viral protease (3CL) that is needed by coronaviruses to replicate (Zhang, Science 2020) and is the target of the antiviral protease-inhibitor drug Paxlovid.

Taking a supplement that contains proteases to digest food is not likely to affect the course of COVID-19 infection or the activity of antiviral drugs.

For more details about digestive enzyme supplements, including the types of enzymes in these supplements, conditions for which they've been used, and safety concerns, see our Digestive Enzyme Supplements Review, which includes our Top Pick among digestive enzyme supplements.