The Food and Drug Administration has approved the new Pfizer drug Paxlovid as the first treatment in pill form for patients who have contracted coronavirus, NBC News reports. The pill does not eliminate the virus in the body, but it does reduce the risk of severe cases of COVID19.
Along with monoclonal antibodies and treatments of Remdesivir, Paxlovid becomes one more authorized treatment for people who have contracted coronavirus. The FDA has not approved hydroxychloroquine, ivermectin, bleach injections or mysterious Canadian mud, which are popular unproven treatments among uninformed patients who have not embraced vaccinations.
Calling the approval “a major step forward,” Dr. Patrizia Cavazzoni, director of the agency’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, said in a statement, “This authorization provides a new tool to combat Covid-19 at a crucial time in the pandemic as new variants emerge and promises to make antiviral treatment more accessible to patients who are at high risk for progression to severe Covid-19,”