The first shipment of 10,000 doses of Pfizer’s oral antiviral drug, Paxlovid, arrived on the French market this Friday (4), according to the French Ministry of Health.
“Paxlovid can be prescribed by any physician for prior access. It will be available in any pharmacy in the city and in hospital pharmacies,” the ministry said in a statement.
The French health regulator, the High Health Authority, gave the go-ahead for the drug on 21 January. The European Medicines Agency followed the trend on January 28, giving a conditional sale authorization in the bloc.
Paxlovid can lower the risk of hospitalization or death by up to 90% if given to adults with comorbidities within days of their first symptoms, according to data released by Pfizer.
France is the first country in the European Union to make the drug available, but it is not the only one on the market. Germany announced that it had placed an order for one million doses of the antiviral at the end of 2021.
Source: CNN Brasil
