Singapore has approved the use of Pfizer’s Covid-19 pill, HSA has granted interim authorisation under the Pandemic Special Access Route (PSAR) for Pfizer’s PAXLOVIDTM, a combination of two medicines, nirmatrelvir (the antiviral medicine) and ritonavir.
Paxlovid Oral tablet
HSA said that this is the first oral tablet approved in Singapore for the treatment of mild to moderate COVID-19 in adult patients who are at high risk of progression to severe disease, to reduce the risk of hospitalisation and death.
PAXLOVIDTMÂ is to be taken twice daily for 5 days, and the treatment should be initiated as soon as possible after a diagnosis has been made, within 5 days of the onset of COVID-19 symptoms. It will be prescribed and prioritised to those at higher risk of severe COVID illness, as directed by the Ministry of Health.
Data of study
HSA said that the clinical study shows that AXLOVIDTMÂ reduced the risk of COVID-19 related hospitalisation or death as compared to the placebo group by 88.9% when treatment was given within 3 days of onset of symptoms and 87.8% when given within 5 days of onset of symptoms.
The efficacy analysis included patients infected with the Delta variant. In vitro data has shown that PAXLOVIDTM is active against the prevailing variants of concern, including the Delta and Omicron variants.
This study was done to 2,000 participants ages 18 to 88 years old.