The Food and Drug Administration granted emergency use authorization to the pill, called Paxlovid, which has shown in clinical trials to dramatically reduce the likelihood of hospitalization and deaths in coronavirus patients.
Further, the clinical studies observed mostly only mild side effects from the drug.
The FDA authorization makes the pill available to adults and children who have tested positive for COVID-19 and are considered likely to become severely ill. That includes older adults and those with heart disease and obesity.
Under the FDA authorization, children must weigh at least 88 pounds to qualify to take the medication.
“Today’s authorization of Paxlovid represents another tremendous example of how science will help us ultimately defeat this pandemic, which, even two years in, continues to disrupt and devastate lives across the world,” Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla said in a statement.
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