This treatment, marketed under the name of Paxlovid, consists of a combination of two pills taken twice a day for five days.
Le Monde with AFP
This is an important step in the fight against the pandemic that could allow millions of patients to access a treatment. The Pfizer Laboratory Covid-19 pill was authorized, Wednesday, December 22, by the US Medicines Agency (FDA).
“This authorization provides a new tool for combating COVID-19, at a crucial moment of the pandemic where new variants emerge”, welcomed a head of the FDA, Patrizia Cavazzoni, cited by a statement. This antiviral drug can be administered to high-risk patients aged 12 and over, specifies the FDA.
Pfizer processing, marketed as Paxlovid, consists of a combination of two pills taken twice a day for five days, from the diagnosis and within five days after the appearance of the symptoms, adds the FDA.
The American laboratory pill, whose VVID-19 vaccine is also authorized in the United States, reduces hospitalizations and deaths by risky people by almost 90% when taken in the first days after the appearance of symptoms, according to clinical trials that focused on more than 2,200 people.
No deaths were recorded during these tests among patients who received treatment. Participants were non-vaccinated and had a high risk of developing a serious case of COVID-19. Pfizer has also announced that its antiviral treatment should remain effective against Omicron. This new variant, highly transmissible, has resulted in a rise in cases in the United States, as in many other countries around the world.
A key complement to vaccines
Antivirals act by reducing the ability of a virus to replicate, thus braking the disease. These treatments represent a key complement to vaccines to protect from COVID-19, especially because they are very easy to administer, can be taken simply at home with a large glass of water. The paxlovid completes the available arsenal against COVID-19 but does not replace vaccines, which remain the first axis of defense against this pandemic, thus recalled the FDA.
“This innovative treatment (…) will change the way we treat COVID-19 and, I hope, help reduce the significant pressure on our health and hospital systems,” reproached Albert Bourla , the Pfizer CEO, in a communiqué .
The United States had ordered Pfizer 10 million treatments of its anti-COVID pill for $ 5.29 billion, President Joe Biden ensuring that they would be distributed free of charge. The European Medicines Agency has also allowed Paxlovid temporarily, pending a final authorization.
A request for authorization has also been filed with the FDA for another pill, that of the Merck laboratory, known as MSD outside the United States. This other treatment, Molnupiravir, has received a positive opinion from an independent committee despite less effective than initially anticipated and concerns about pregnant women. Merck and Pfizer pills are not struggling in the same way against coronavirus, and the second does not cause as many concerns.