The European Union's drug regulator on Thursday gave the green light to Pfizer Inc's antiviral Covid-19 pill for treating adults at risk of severe illness, as the region scrambles to boost its arsenal to fight the Omicron variant. Italy, Germany and Belgium are among a handful of EU countries that have bought the drug, branded as Paxlovid. Merck's pill is also under review in the EU, but is taking longer to approve because the company revised its trial data in November, saying the drug was significantly less effective than previously thought. In the trial however, it was only tested on unvaccinated individuals, raising questions on its potential use in high-risk patients who did get inoculated. Health Minister Karl Lauterbach said on January 2 he expected the country's drug regulator to give a national emergency go-ahead before the end of the month and that rollout would start then.

Source: Dhaka Tribune January 28, 2022 03:46 UTC