Pfizer’s COVID-19 antiviral pill, Paxlovid has been approved by Health Canada for consumption.
“I think its great that it’s been approved by Health Canada. I think we have such limited options for early treatment for COVID that this is a very important advance,” Dr. Deepali Kumar, a clinician Investigator at Toronto General Hospital Research Institute, told Humber News on Wednesday.
Paxlovid is an investigational Sars-Cov-2 antiviral pill that reduces the chances of hospitalizations and deaths by 89 per cent when consumed at the first sign of infection.
“The data further support the efficacy of PAXLOVID in reducing hospitalization and death and show a substantial decrease in viral load. This underscores the treatment candidate’s potential to save the lives of patients around the world,” said Albert Bourla, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Pfizer in an open letter.
The antiviral pill will be prescribed to adults above the age of 18 and older who have tested positive and are experiencing mild symptoms and will not be available over the counter.
“One issue with Paxlovid is that it has many drug interactions so we do have to be careful in terms of who is taking it. Somebody who is on multiple medications will need to be monitored very closely,” said Kumar.
“The treatment is many hundreds of dollars and given that we are going to have a very small amount of Paxlovid, making it over the counter does not make sense,” Dr. Barry Pakes, an associate professor of medicine at the University of Toronto, told Humber News.
The drug involves taking three pills of two different drugs. Two 150 mg tablets of nirmatrelvir and one 100 mg tablet of ritonavir given twice daily for five days.
Still being in its early phases, the side effects of this antiviral pill are still unknown, however, long-term effects are unlikely. “I don’t anticipate any long-term effects,” said Kumar.
“Most of these things don’t have long-term side effects really. The side effects of COVID are going to be much more significant and that remains to be seen,” said Pakes.
The federal government had reached an agreement with Pfizer to procure one million doses of the antiviral pill once it was approved by Health Canada. However, currently, there is a limited supply of the pill, and will be distributed this week.
“The main thing is to make sure that those who need it get the medication. We want to make sure that the medication is available to everybody that needs the medication. So, if that means making sure that it’s available at certain distribution sites, hospitals and pharmacies, however, that is done as long as there is equitable distribution,” said Kumar.
The impact this treatment will have depends on how much of a supply there is and how it is used. “I don’t think it’s going to be a complete game-changer but if we have enough of it and we use it in the right way it can certainly contribute to managing the pandemic overall,” said Pakes.
Paxlovid may not have an impact on the number of infections but on the hospitalizations if we can get the medication as soon as symptoms start showing.
“The best thing we have to prevent infections is vaccination,” said Kumar.