URN.The drug has been recommended for patients who are at the highest risk of hospitalization, such as unvaccinated, older, or immunosuppressed patients.
The World Health Organization-WHO has recommended Pfizer’s antiviral drug for patients with non-severe COVID-19.
The drug sold under the name Paxlovid is a combination of nirmatrelvir and ritonavir tablets.
It has been recommended for patients who are at the highest risk of hospitalization, such as unvaccinated, older, or immunosuppressed patients. The recommendation is based on study findings of the drug that was published in the BMJ medical journal.
Findings from two randomized controlled trials involving 3,078 patients show that the drug reduced the risk of hospitalization by 85% in high-risk groups.
Along with the strong recommendation for the use of nirmatrelvir and ritonavir, WHO also updated its recommendation on remdesivir, another antiviral medicine.
Previously, WHO had suggested against its use in all COVID-19 patients regardless of disease severity, due to the totality of the evidence at that time showing little or no effect on mortality.
Following the publication of new data from a clinical trial looking at the outcome of admission to a hospital, WHO has updated its recommendation. WHO now suggests the use of remdesivir in mild or moderate COVID-19 patients who are at high risk of hospitalization.
The recommendation for use of remdesivir in patients with severe or critical COVID-19 is currently under review.
Over five COVID-19 treatments have been recommended for use by the WHO. Some of them include Molnupiravir (another antiviral drug), bebtelovimab, Tocilizumab and Barcitinib.
While these drugs have proven to be able to help in the treatment of COVID-19, their price per dose will likely make them unaffordable for many in low and middle-income countries. For instance, on the open market the price of Paxlovid on the open market costs between 530 dollars and 700 dollars.
WHO is urging companies such as Pfizer to become more transparent so that all countries can benefit from their new drug.
“WHO is extremely concerned that as occurred with COVID-19 vaccines, low and middle-income countries will again be pushed to the end of the queue when it comes to accessing this treatment. Lack of transparency on the part of the originator company is making it difficult for public health organizations to obtain an accurate picture of the availability of the medicine, which countries are involved in bilateral deals, and what they are paying.
In addition, a licensing agreement made by Pfizer with the Medicines Patent Pool limits the number of countries that can benefit from generic production of the medicine,” a statement from WHO read in part.
