<Anchor> At a
time when our medical system has reached its limit due to the spread of Corona, good news was delivered overnight. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved for the first time Pfizer's oral coronavirus treatment for home use. Now that it is possible to buy medicines from pharmacies with a doctor's prescription, it seems that the burden on the medical field can be reduced.
Correspondent Kim Jong-won reports from New York.
<Reporter> The
FDA has granted emergency approval for Pfizer's oral treatment, Paxrovid, to be taken at home for patients 12 years of age or older who weigh more than 40 kilograms and are at high risk of becoming seriously ill.
As a result, in the United States, like other over-the-counter drugs, corona treatment can be bought at pharmacies with a doctor's prescription.
Pfizer's pills are known to reduce the chance of getting severe or dying from the coronavirus by 89%.
The corona treatment used in hospitals so far is for Ringer or injection, and the treatment in pill form is evaluated as the cheapest and fastest means to treat Corona.
The White House said it had already purchased Pfizer's pills, as well as Merck's unapproved treatment, in bulk, and said it would distribute them on the market right away.
[Jen Saki/White House Spokesperson: We have purchased 10 million Pfizer pills and 3 million Merck pills. We are preparing to distribute these drugs across the country as soon as we secure supplies.]
The U.S. government plans to provide this pill treatment free of charge in the future.
Pfizer's pill, Paxrovid, should be taken every 12 hours for five days if symptoms of coronavirus develop.
While Mark, which also developed a pill-type treatment, is about to get FDA approval, Pfizer plans to gradually increase production to produce more than 360 million tablets next year.