Ukraine strikes deal with Pfizer to buy anti-COVID pill

16 December 2021, 10:57 AM

Ukraine has signed a deal with pharmaceutical company Pfizer to buy Paxlovid, an antiviral pill used to treat COVID-19, Ukrainian Health Minister Viktor Liashko said at a briefing on Dec. 16.

“We’re going to purchase enough doses for 300,000 courses of treatment,” Liashko said.

“The use of this pill will protect high-risk COVID-19 patients against complications, hospitalization and death.

“A Pfizer study has found that Paxlovid cuts the risk of hospitalization or death if prescribed within three days of the first symptoms.”

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If patients start getting treatment within five days of symptoms, the probability of hospitalization and death drops by 89 percent, Liashko added.

Pfizer revealed in April that it was working on an anti-COVID pill. The drug was tested on high-risk adult COVID-19-positive patients, and in early November the pharmaceutical company released its final research data.

It showed that Paxlovid cuts the risk of hospitalization or death by 89 percent. 

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