By Yasin Ebrahim
Investing.com - Pfizer on Wednesday received emergency use authorization for its Covid-19 pill Paxlovid to treat mild-to-moderate coronavirus disease in adults and patients of at least 12 years of age.
Shares of Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) were up more than 2%.
“Today’s authorization introduces the first treatment for COVID-19 that is in the form of a pill that is taken orally — a major step forward in the fight against this global pandemic,” said Patrizia Cavazzoni, M.D., director of the FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research.
“This authorization provides a new tool to combat COVID-19 at a crucial time in the pandemic as new variants emerge and promises to make antiviral treatment more accessible to patients who are at high risk for progression to severe COVID-19.”
Paxlovid was shown to significantly reduced the risk of COVID-19 related hospitalization or death by 88% compared to placebo among patients treated within five days of symptom onset and who didn't receive COVID-19 therapeutic monoclonal antibody treatment.