US Government to Acquire 10 million Pfizer Antiviral Pills Courses
Biden administration to purchase Pfizer antiviral pills for ten million people, hoping to transform coronavirus pandemic
The Biden government is planning to buy ten million courses of coronavirus Pfizer antiviral pills. Moreover, the administration is investing $5 billion to acquire the required pills for ten million people, and it will help change the trajectory of the COVID-19 pandemic by cutting severe illness, hospitalization, and deaths, according to a source familiar with the transaction.
As Pfizer and the federal government on Tuesday finalized the details, the drug company requested the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to approve the five-day antiviral drug regimen called Paxlovid. The treatment is the second easy-to-take medication intended at keeping recently virus-infected individuals out of the hospital to go before the FDA. The other is by Ridgeback Biotherapeutics and Merck.
The federal government aides see both treatments as possible game-changers to help restore a sense of regular routine heading toward the second anniversary of the coronavirus pandemic and are keen to add them to a collection of treatments for American nationals who contracted with the virus. With breakthrough virus cases mounting and thirty percent of adults still not fully vaccinated, health officials say the Pfizer pills will help curb the outbreak by thwarting the most harmful effects of the virus.
How will the poorer countries get the Pfizer pill at lower prices?
Pfizer agreed to a license-sharing agreement that would allow the global manufacturers to manufacture and sell it at lower prices in developing nations. The company also said that the deal could give over a half of the global population access to treatment, even as Pfizer rejects calls to permit poorer nations access to its COVID-19 vaccine formula.
Biden Government to Acquire Ten million Pfizer Antiviral Pills Courses Source: Web
Executive director of Medicines Patent Pool, Charles Gore, said that it is so important because, after approval, the oral drug is specifically well suited for middle- and low-income nations and could play a key role in saving lives, contributing to international efforts to combat the deadly pandemic. Ridgeback and Merck also agreed to share the license of their coronavirus antiviral pill, molnupiravir, with world manufacturers. In addition, the United Kingdom approved Merck’s COVID antiviral pill molnupiravir last week.
This month, Pfizer announced that Paxlovid, when administered to individuals at high risk of severe illness within three days of symptom appearing, cut the hospitalization and death rate by eighty-nine percent. In addition, the clinical trial for the treatment paused early because of strong evidence that the medication worked. As a result, Pfizer is now testing its pill in individuals at low risk of severe illness and in individuals exposed to the coronavirus, which could lead to more extensive use.
