Here ’s What You Need to Know About Paxlovid

Prescriptions for Pfizer’s COVID-19 antiviral medication Paxlovid—the first such pill to be authorized by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)—have increased tenfold in the past two months. Between late February and April 22, the number of patients using Paxlovid jumped from 8,000 to 80,000, according to Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla; the drug is now available at some 33,000 locations, such as pharmacies and outpatient clinics, across the country. On April 26, the White House announced it would step up its efforts to encourage more doctors to prescribe the antiviral medication. As part of this, the Biden Administration announced the drug will be distributed directly to pharmacies (in addition to already being available at federal test-to-treat sites). In doing so, it expects the number of sites across the country giving out Paxlovid will eventually increase to 40,000. “The bottom line is that we want to make this therapeutic available to all Americans,” Dr. Ashish Jha, the White House COVID-19 response coordinator, told CNN. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] With COVID-19 cases increasing again in the U.S. and Paxlovid becoming more widely available, it’s useful to understand a bit more about the drug, its efficacy, and who can get it. What is Paxlovid and how does it work? Paxlovid is made up of two medications: nirmatrelvir, which inhibits the SARS-CoV-2 protein from replicating, and ritonavir, which is best known as an HIV/A...
Source: TIME: Health - Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Tags: Uncategorized COVID-19 healthscienceclimate Source Type: news