Pfizer to Seek FDA Emergency-Use Authorization for COVID-19 Pill

Pfizer announced Tuesday that it is seeking an FDA emergency-use authorization for its experimental COVID-19 antiviral pill.

As previously reported by Human Events News, the pill, called Paxlovid, cut the risk of hospitalization or death by about 89 percent if they took it within three days of diagnosis.

“With more than 5 million deaths and countless lives impacted by this devastating disease globally, there is an urgent need for life-saving treatment options,” Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla said. “The overwhelming efficacy achieved in our recent clinical study of PAXLOVID, and its potential to help save lives and keep people out of the hospital if authorized, underscores the critical role that oral antiviral therapies could play in the battle against COVID-19.”

The pill is meant to target the virus in mild to moderate cases among patients at heightened risk of hospitalization or death, Just the News reports. It is administered in combination with an antiviral drug called ritonavir.

Pfizer said it will invest around $1 billion into manufacturing and distributing the pill.

If authorized, there could be two COVID-19 pills on the market before the end of the year. Merck & Co. and its partner Ridgeback Biotherapeutics LP filed an application requesting FDA authorization for their COVID-19 pill called molnupiravir. It was found to cut the risk of hospitalization or death by about 50 percent.