Supervisor EMA requested to approve Brussels corona pills Pfizer
The European vaccine watchdog EMA is positive about the corona pills that Pfizer has developed. The regulator asked the European Commission to approve the drug. Brussels transfers those payments quickly. The Netherlands had already been allowed to use the pills, but waited until approval was received.
Paxlovid, the drug is already approved for use in the United States and the United Kingdom. It is intended for people who have tested net positive for the coronavirus and who are at risk of becoming seriously ill. The remedy consists of two pills. One pill contains the substance PF-07321332, the other ritonavir. They have to get together twice a day for five days.
If Brussels does approve the pills, Paxlovid will be the first drug of its kind in the European Union.
No deaths in test phase
Paxlovid has been tested on just over 2000 subjects. Half received the pills, the other half a saline solution that doesn’t work, as a placebo. Of the people who swallowed, none died out and eight were hospitalized for more than 24 hours. In the control group, there were 66 hospitalizations and nine deaths. Most had the delta variant, but the EMA expects the pills to also work well against the omikron variant, which is now the most common.
Chairman Ton de Boer of the Medicines Evaluation Board says against the NOS that the drug has mild side effects: “Temporary change in taste, headache, vomiting and lowering of blood pressure.” According to De Boer, an important disadvantage is that other medicines cannot be combined with Paxlovid: “There are many stronger and less effective drugs. This can lead to dangerous situations.”