Covid-19 roundup: WHO is­sues 'strong' rec­om­men­da­tion for Pfiz­er's Paxlovid but wants more price trans­paren­cy

On Thurs­day, the World Health Or­ga­ni­za­tion made a strong rec­om­men­da­tion for Pfiz­er’s pill Paxlovid for use in mild and mod­er­ate Covid-19 pa­tients.

How­ev­er, the WHO al­so raised con­cerns about the avail­abil­i­ty, the lack of price trans­paren­cy and the need for quick and ac­cu­rate test­ing be­fore be­ing ad­min­is­tered. This presents a chal­lenge for low- and mid­dle-in­come na­tions, ac­cord­ing to the WHO.

Pfiz­er’s drug, an oral an­tivi­ral com­bi­na­tion of nir­ma­trelvir and ri­ton­avir tablets, is strong­ly rec­om­mend­ed for pa­tients with non-se­vere Covid-19, who are at the high­est risk of de­vel­op­ing se­vere dis­ease and hos­pi­tal­iza­tion in­clud­ing old­er, un­vac­ci­nat­ed or im­muno­sup­pressed pa­tients. This rec­om­men­da­tion is based on da­ta from two ran­dom­ized con­trolled tri­als in­volv­ing 3,078 pa­tients, show­ing that the risk of hos­pi­tal­iza­tion is re­duced by 85% fol­low­ing treat­ment.

Unlock this article instantly by becoming a free subscriber.

You’ll get access to free articles each month, plus you can customize what newsletters get delivered to your inbox each week, including breaking news.

SIGN UP LOG IN BECOME A PREMIUM SUBSCRIBER