The WHO is concerned that, as with corona vaccines, rich countries will secure most of the production and that poorer countries will initially not have enough available. Pfizer aims to produce pills for 120 million patients this year. The company promised the UN children’s charity UNICEF to deliver pills to four million patients. The WHO asked Pfizer to be more transparent about production, bilateral contracts and pricing.
According to the WHO, Paxlovid should be taken within five days of the onset of symptoms. Whether it is still effective in critically ill patients is unclear from previous studies. The WHO does not recommend the drug for patients at low risk of severe disease because it does not bring benefits to them. Paxlovid also interacts with other medicines. Therefore, intake should be discussed with doctors in any case.
With this recommendation, the drug is included in the WHO list of tested drugs. For many countries that, unlike the EU or the US, do not have their own regulatory authority for medicines, this is the basis for approval without further clarification.
In addition to Paxlovid, other agents are already being used to protect against severe early-stage courses of Sars-CoV-2 infection. However, they usually have to be given as an infusion.