The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced Thursday final approval of the first oral pill to treat COVID-19.
The drug, named Paxlovid and manufactured by the pharmaceutical company Pfizerwas until now authorized for emergency use.
A statement from the FDA, cited by the agency EFEspecified that the oral antiviral Paxlovid is the fourth medicine and the first oral antiviral pill that has been approved for the treatment of the disease caused by the coronavirus in adults.
The benefit of the drug was demonstrated in patients with prior immunity to the virus that causes COVID-19. The FDA recommends its use when the infection is mild to moderate, for adults with a high risk of the disease worsening, recalls the Spanish media.
The pharmaceutical company Pfizer announces the success of its pill against COVID-19
The risk of COVID-19-related hospitalization or death from any cause during the 28-day follow-up was 0.2% among 490 people treated with Paxlovid, compared with 1.7% among 479 who received placebo. .
“Today’s approval demonstrates that it has met the agency’s rigorous safety and efficacy standards and remains an important treatment option for people at high risk of progression to severe COVID-19, including those with prior immunity,” he said. in the note the director of the FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, Patrizia Cavazzoni.
At the beginning of May, the World Health Organization (WHO) decreed the end of the global health emergency by the COVID-19 pandemic, although he warned that the disease has not disappeared.
The United States has registered more than 6 million hospitalizations and more than 1 million deaths from the disease throughout the pandemic, according to official statistics of that nation.
