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Feb 07 2022
News
Pharmacies feel stiffed on COVID pill payments
Some pharmacies are getting paid as little as $1 to dispense the COVID antiviral pills made by Pfizer and Merck.
Why it matters: Most pharmacies want to offer the drugs, especially the one from Pfizer that drastically cuts the odds of hospitalization and death. But low payments could hurt Americans' ability to access the pills in some areas if pharmacies decide they can't afford to
Axios
Apr 25 2022
News
COVID pill to be widely available soon, White House says
The Biden administration is preparing to announce plans this week to make Pfizer's COVID-19 pill available at almost any pharmacy in the U.S. after early shortages.
Why it matters: The drug, Paxlovid, was called a potential "game-changer" for its ability to treat infections at home and keep individuals at risk of severe illness out of the hospital.
But availability has been
Axios
Dec 27 2021
News
Pfizer antiviral pills may be risky with other medications
As the omicron surge pummels a pandemic-weary nation, the first antiviral pills for Covid-19 promise desperately needed protection for people at risk of severe disease. However, many people prescribed Pfizer’s or Merck’s new medications will require careful monitoring by doctors and pharmacists, and the antivirals may not be safe for everyone, experts caution.
The Food and Drug
NBC News (Online)
Mar 21 2022
News
Doctors finding hurdles to using pills to treat COVID-19
High-risk COVID-19 patients now have new treatments they can take at home to stay out of the hospital — if doctors get the pills to them fast enough.
Health systems around the country are rushing out same-day prescription deliveries. Some clinics have started testing and treating patients in one visit, an initiative that President Joe Biden’s administration recently touted.
The
Associated Press
Nov 04 2021
News
First pill to treat Covid gets approval in UK
The first pill designed to treat symptomatic Covid has been approved by the UK medicines regulator.
The tablet - molnupiravir - will be given twice a day to vulnerable patients recently diagnosed with the disease.
In clinical trials the pill, originally developed to treat flu, cut the risk of hospitalisation or death by about half.
Health Secretary Sajid Javid said the
BBC News
Jun 18 2021
News
A Pill to Treat Covid-19? The U.S. Is Betting on It.
The U.S. government spent more than $18 billion last year funding drugmakers to make a Covid vaccine, an effort that led to at least five highly effective shots in record time. Now it’s pouring more than $3 billion on a neglected area of research: developing pills to fight the virus early in the course of infection, potentially saving many lives in the years to come.
The new program,
New York Times (News)
Dec 22 2021
Headline Roundup
FDA Authorizes Pfizer's COVID-19 Antiviral Pill
On Wednesday, the Food and Drug Administration authorized Pfizer’s antiviral pill to treat mild-to-moderate COVID-19.
The pill, Paxlovid, is the first authorized at-home prescription treatment for the disease. The authorization is limited to patients 12 and older who test positive and “are at high risk for progression to severe COVID-19.” “This authorization provides a new tool to
NBC News (Online)


Apr 22 2022
News
WHO Warns Poor Nations Could Be Pushed to 'End of the Queue' for Pfizer Covid Pill
While strongly recommending the use of Paxlovid for high-risk Covid-19 patients who develop mild or moderate symptoms, the World Health Organization on Friday warned that without increasing testing access and the reach of generic production and consumption, the lifesaving medicine is likely to remain inaccessible in much of the Global South—replicating the injustice of vaccine apartheid.
Common Dreams
Dec 23 2021
News
First doses of Paxlovid, Pfizer's new COVID pill, are released to states
A federal agency has released the first allocations of Paxlovid, the new COVID-19 treatment from Pfizer, to states and territories. The federal government has a contract for 10 million courses of the treatment and is providing the medicine free to state and territorial health departments.
The government acknowledges that supplies will be tight to start.
"An initial 65,000 courses
NPR (Online News)
Dec 27 2021
News
Pfizer antiviral pill could be risky with other widely used medications
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently authorized two antiviral pills, one from Pfizer and one from Merck, making them the first at-home treatment for COVID-19 that has been touted as a game changer in the fight against the pandemic.
However, experts told NBC News that the pills will require careful monitoring by doctors and pharmacists.
While Pfizer's Paxlovid has been
The Hill