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...the U.S. Food and Drug Administration took the unusual step of authorizing pharmacists to directly prescribe antiviral medication Paxlovid to patients testing positive for COVID-19...But don’t expect to get a prescription right away from your neighborhood pharmacist for the pills...Major pharmacy chains and a state regulatory agency said Friday that they’re continuing to work with the FDA on how to best implement the change, including whether any new costs will be passed on to patients. Although the details still need to be worked out, the change was applauded by the industry...“I’m elated,” said Christina Madison, an associate professor at the College of Pharmacy at Roseman University in Southern Nevada...The change eliminates a barrier to getting treatment, especially in rural areas and “medical deserts” where a pharmacy is “the only place a person can get medical information for miles,” she said...READ MORE

Paxlovid and molnupiravir are the first oral treatments for COVID-19, potentially valuable new tools as the fast-spreading omicron variant fuels a sharp surge in cases across the U.S...The Food and Drug Administration...authorized the first pill for COVID-19, clearing for emergency use an antiviral treatment from Pfizer at a precarious moment in the two-year-old pandemic. One day later...the agency cleared a second pill developed by Merck & Co...READ MORE

It was a good year to be a pharmaceutical company, especially one that came up with a product to combat COVID-19. Of the world’s top 20 pharmas ranked by 2021 revenues, 12 had at least 10% growth, including five that saw their sales boom at least 40%...No company pulled in more revenue from COVID products than Pfizer. Fueled by Comirnaty, Pfizer nearly doubled its top line.Johnson & Johnson needed a healthy 14% increase in revenue to stay comfortably in front of Pfizer and remain in the top spot, where it has resided since 2012. But that reign is in jeopardy this year, as Pfizer is projecting combined sales of $54 billion from Comirnaty and its oral COVID-19 treatment, Paxlovid...READ MORE

Thirty five generic drugmakers around the world will make cheap versions of Pfizer Inc's highly effective COVID-19 oral antiviral Paxlovid to supply the treatment in 95 poorer countries, the U.N.-backed Medicines Patent Pool said...Pfizer struck a deal...with the group to allow generic drugmakers to make the pills for 95 low- and middle-income countries...Paxlovid is expected to be an important tool in the fight against COVID-19 after it reduced hospitalizations in high-risk patients...Merck, on its own and through the MPP license, has deals with dozens of drugmakers to make its pill...available in some countries...Read More