The Hill
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Wednesday authorized a new COVID-19 treatment from Pfizer, the first pill to treat the virus to become available.
The pill, known as Paxlovid, is seen as a major step forward in the fight against the virus, with trials showing it reduced the risk of hospitalization or death by 89 percent in high-risk patients.
The treatment is expected to be in short supply to begin with, though, leading to calls for the Biden administration to do more to boost supply.
“Today’s authorization introduces the first treatment for COVID-19 that is in the form of a pill that is taken orally — a major step forward in the fight against this global pandemic,” said Patrizia Cavazzoni, director of the FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research. “This authorization provides a new tool to combat COVID-19 at a crucial time in the pandemic…
