COVID-19 pill Paxlovid could get full approval by May

DORAL, FL – COVID-19 pill Paxlovid won another battle Thursday when a panel of outside experts voted 16-1 in favor of the medication that was granted emergency use by the FDA in late 2021.

According to U.S. health advisers, this drug remains a safe and effective treatment for high-risk adults with COVID-19 who are more likely to face hospitalization and death due to the virus.

Now, the medication developed by Pfizer is on its way to get full regulatory approval by the FDA, which should make a final decision by May.

For experts, the approval by the panel comes to no surprise taking into consideration that the federal government has purchased more than 20 million doses of COVID-19 pill Paxlovid and has encouraged health professionals to prescribe it in severe cases.

In fact, the FDA stated the drug in high-risk patients could prevent 1,500 COVID-19 deaths and 13,000 hospitalizations per week. Currently, the country continues reporting about 4,000 deaths and 35,000 hospitalizations weekly, as per FDA data.

The agency also found high-risk adults, regardless of their vaccination or infection history, can reduce its chances of hospitalization or death with this pill between 60% and 85%, depending on individual circumstances.

However, the data reviewed by the FDA shows “no meaningful difference in otherwise healthy adults, whether or not they’d been previously vaccinated,” the AP informed.

Since there are many factors in question to decide when is the best time to prescribe the pill, panelists said prescribing Paxlovid will remain a case-by-case decision.

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