Health Canada approves Pfizer antiviral but supply issues expected – APTN News
Jan 17, 2022
Health Canada has approved Pfizer’s antiviral treatment for COVID-19 and the drugmaker says some of it has already been delivered for use.
The authorization posted to the Health Canada website Monday morning says the treatment can be used for adult patients with mild or moderate COVID-19 who are also at high risk of becoming more seriously ill.
The drug review team at Health Canada says the risk-benefit analysis was “favourable” for adults in this category.
Chief medical adviser Dr. Supriya Sharma says this is the first oral medication approved for COVID-19 that can be taken by patients at home. She said until now all authorized treatments were administered intravenously or by injection in a hospital.
Paxlovid is a combination of two different drugs, that are to be given within five days of infection. Together the drugs showed to be almost 90 per cent effective at preventing hospitalization or death among higher-risk patients with COVID-19.
