Pfizer's COVID-19 pill authorised in US
The US Food and Drug Administration granted emergency authorisation to Pfizer's COVID treatment pill, MIR24.tv reports
The Paxlovid drug will be available exclusively by prescription and is supposed to be used immediately after coronavirus infection is diagnosed or within five days of symptom onset.
As the FDA press release says, Paxlovid is intended for treatment of mild-to-moderate coronavirus disease in adult and paediatric patients (12 years of age and older, weighing at least 40 kilograms or about 88 pounds) with positive results of direct SARS-CoV-2 testing, and who are at high risk for progression to severe COVID-19, including hospitalisation or death.
Possible side effects of the pill include impaired sense of taste, diarrhoea, high blood pressure and muscle aches.
In the course of studies conducted before the Omicron strain emerged, the drug indicated that its use results in 89 percent lower risks of hospitalisation or death from coronavirus.
