A medicine that would reduce the risk of being hospitalized with covid 19 by 89% has hit the Canadian market.

Pfizer released a medicine named Paxlovid. It is an oral medicine that can reduce the risk of being hospitalized by 89%. Paxlovid can be taken by any adult with immunosuppression whether moderate or severe will be able to obtain it regardless of their vaccination status, a teenager who weighs less than 40 kilos and a pregnant woman that is non vaccinated.“I think it is the beginning of a ‘game-changer, ‘ says Scott Robert, a Yale Medicine infectious diseases specialist” 

The medicine has been authorized by Santé Canada on January 17. It will be sold in pharmacies by prescription.

However, there are some side effects of that drug. Diarrhea, muscle aches, and blood pressure are some of them. 

Does Paxlovid Work against Omicron?

Paxlovid’s clinical trials took place before Omicron became important, but Pfizer says the drug works against the highly contagious variant. So far at least three laboratory-based studies claim to back this up, two of those studies were conducted by Pfizer, while the third was done by Pfizer in partnership with the Icahn School of Medicine.

Access to the antiviral Paxlovid, used against COVID-19, has been extended to new target customers and is now distributed in all pharmacies in Quebec.