Pfizer’s Pill To Be Given To High Risk Covid Cases

The Covid treatment tablets approved for use in the UK should be given to clinically vulnerable people as soon as they test positive.

The drug – Paxlovid – developed by the US company Pfizer cuts the risk of hospitalization or death by 89% in vulnerable adults, clinical trial results suggest.

Health and Social Care Secretary Sajid Javid has previously called the results “incredible”.

The drug, known as a protease inhibitor, is designed to block an enzyme the virus needs in order to multiply. When taken alongside a low dose of another antiviral pill called ritonavir, it stays in the body for longer.

Three pills are taken twice a day for five days.