Paxlovid, Pfizer’s oral COVID-19 therapy medicine, has been approved by the European Medicines Agency (EMA), making it the first oral antiviral Coronavirus pill to get regulatory approval in Europe.
The news comes as most European countries fight to contain the Coronavirus’s return, which is being fueled by the Omicron variety. Since the beginning of the year, the region has consistently reported over 1 million new COVID-19 infections every day.
The European Medicines Agency (EMA) has endorsed Paxlovid for the treatment of COVID-19 patients who do not require supplementary oxygen but are at risk of getting a serious infection, according to an official release.
Paxlovid should be started as soon as symptoms of COVID-19 appear, according to the EMA, because it is most effective in the first five days after a positive diagnosis.
In November of last year, Pfizer released preliminary data from Paxlovid’s highly anticipated clinical studies, demonstrating that the medicine reduces the rate of hospitalization and death in high-risk adults by 89 percent.
Paxlovid was also licenced by the UK’s Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) earlier this month. The tablet developed by Pfizer wasn’t the first to be approved in the United Kingdom.
Merck’s oral antiviral Coronavirus tablet, Molnupiravir, was authorized by the MHRA in November of last year, making it the world’s first oral COVID-19 therapy medicine.
Easy-to-administer antiviral Coronavirus medicines, according to public health professionals around the world, can help terminate the pandemic by preventing patients with mild and moderate symptoms from becoming severe infections.
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