Qatar – US health regulator authorizes Pfizer’s Covid pill as Omicron surges

Qatar – US health regulator authorizes Pfizer’s Covid pill as Omicron surges

The United States on Wednesday authorized Pfizer's anti-Covid pill for high-risk people aged 12 and up, as a surge of cases driven by the highly infectious Omicron variant threatened holiday plans and Americans struggled to find tests. Paxlovid, which comprises two types of tablet, was granted an emergency use authorization by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) after a clinical trial showed it to reduce the risk of hospitalizations and deaths among at-risk people by 88 percent. 'Today's action is a testament to the power of science and the result of American innovation and ingenuity,' President Joe Biden said in a statement, promising to invoke a law that would help Pfizer ramp up production quickly. The US has spent $5. 3 billion procuring 10 million courses of the treatment, with the first 265, 000 to be delivered in January and the rest by late summer, White House Covid response coordinator Jeff Zients told reporters on a call. The FDA stressed the treatment should complement rather than replace vaccines, which remain the frontline tool against the coronavirus. But pills that are available at pharmacies are likely to be much easier to access than synthetic antibody treatments, which require infusions administered by