The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Wednesday granted\u00a0emergency use authorization to Pfizer \u2019s COVID-19 treatment pill\u2014coming about a month after the federal government \u2026<\/b>
\nThe Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Wednesday granted emergency use authorization to Pfizer \u2019s COVID-19 treatment pill\u2014coming about a month after the federal government announced it would purchase 10 million courses of the drug. The pill, Paxlovid, is taken twice per day for five days in combination with a second medicine called ritonavir, classified as a generic antiviral drug. The drug is aimed at helping patients who are suffering from \u201cmild-to-moderate\u201d COVID-19 from becoming so sick that they need to be hospitalized, officials and Pfizer have said. \u201cToday\u2019s authorization introduces the first treatment for COVID-19 that is in the form of a pill that is taken orally\u2014a major step forward in the fight against this global pandemic,\u201d Dr. Patrizia Cavazzoni, director of the FDA\u2019s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, said Wednesday in a news release about the agency\u2019s approval. The drug, only available via a prescription, can be initiated as soon as possible following a positive diagnosis of COVID-19, the disease caused by the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus. \u201cThis 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,\u201d Cavazzoni continued. But the pill is not designed to be used for \u201cpre-exposure or post-exposure prevention\u201d of the CCP virus or for individuals who have been hospitalized due to severe or critical COVID-19, according to the FDA news release. And the FDA stressed that the drug cannot be a substitute for vaccination and again recommended the common COVID-19 vaccines or booster shots. The Biden administration has already purchased some 10 million courses of Paxlovid in a deal with $5 billion. In November, the White House announced that the federal government will work to ensure treatments are free and accessible for the general public. Delivery will start by the start of 2022 and will continue through the remainder of the year, according to the Department of Health and Human Services. Meanwhile, Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla told news outlets earlier this month that his firm already shipped the drug to the United States, saying they would be ready when the FDA grants them an emergency use authorization. \u201cThis breakthrough therapy, which has been shown to significantly reduce hospitalizations and deaths and can be taken at home, will change the way we treat COVID-19,\u201d Bourla said Wednesday in a news release. The FDA decision comes about a week after Pfizer reported that its new oral drug is able to reduce the risk of death or hospitalization from the CCP virus by up to 89 percent if it is taken shortly after symptoms appear. Before Wednesday\u2019s decision, the only COVID-19 antiviral treatment that has been granted an emergency use authorization by the FDA is remdesivir, a drug that\u2019s being sold under the brand name Veklury. In recent months, some severely sick COVID-19 patients and family members of those patients have said that the cheaply produced anti-parasitic drug Ivermectin produced positive results. An elderly patient in Illinois recovered following a court order that allowed him to use Ivermectin, which the FDA hasn\u2019t cleared for use for COVID-19, the man\u2019s attorney said on Dec.1. The FDA, meanwhile, is weighing a COVID-19 pill from Merck and Ridgeback Biotherapeutics that\u2014like Pfizer\u2019s pill\u2014is meant to be taken two times per day for five days.<\/p>\n