In the conditional approval of Pfizer's antiviral pill, Paxlovid, to treat adults at risk of severe Covid infection, was approved on Thursday by the European Medicines Agency as Europe seeks to bolster its "arsenal" to fight the Omicron variant.
The approval from the European Medicines Agency (EMA) allows EU member states to develop and market the drug.
Italy, Germany and Belgium are among the few EU countries that have already premarketed Paxlovid.
The United States has already approved the use of both Merck and Pfizer's drugs since December.
Merck's pill is also under review by the EMA, but it needs more time to be approved because the company revised its trial data in November.
How the drug is expected to work
Paxlovid is an oral antiviral drug that reduces the ability of SARS-CoV-2 to replicate in the body. The active substance PF-07321332 inhibits the activity of the enzyme needed for the virus to replicate.
Paxlovid contains a low dose of ritonavir (a protease inhibitor), which slows down the breakdown of PF-07321332, allowing it to stay longer in the body at levels that affect the virus. Paxlovid is expected to reduce the need for hospitalization in patients with COVID-19.
Pfizer claims it reduces the risk of hospitalization by 90%
The drug company claims the pill is particularly effective by 90% in preventing hospitalizations and deaths in patients in high-risk groups.
The pill, based on official data, has greater effectiveness when taken in the early stages of the disease. Britain's medicines regulator recommends using the formulation within five days of the onset of symptoms. Recent laboratory data show that the drug maintains its efficacy against the highly transmissible variant Omicron.
Already, the US and UK regulatory authorities have given the go-ahead for the launch of the treatment.
Source: protothema.gr
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