Medicines for covid-19 are needed, especially for people with underlying diseases that cause immunodeficiency.
This is what Jan Albert, professor of infection control at Karolinska Institutet, says.
- There is a great need and we do not have access to all the medicines we would need.
Vaccination is the most effective measure to prevent the spread of infection.
But to treat ongoing infection, it is precisely antiviral drugs such as Paxlovid that are likely to be most important, says the Medical Products Agency's group manager Charlotta Bergquist.
- It works a bit like when you treat an antibacterial infection with antibiotics.
They make it possible to ensure that the virus cannot multiply in the body, she says.
The Covid pill Paxlovid has, among other things, been tested in a lab in Freiburg, Germany.
Photo: Pfizer / AP
Already available in the US
In the US, Paxlovid is already available.
There, Americans can get covid pills prescribed by their doctors.
At the same time, the so-called "test-to-treat" program is being rolled out, where high-risk patients with covid symptoms can test themselves and pick up corona pills at pharmacies.
Stranded negotiations
Sweden has not placed its own order for Pfizer's covid pills, which were given the green light by the EU Medicines Agency at the end of January.
But according to the National Board of Health and Welfare, which handles the national procurement, it is still unclear when Sweden will have access to the drug.
“We do not know when the product may become available in healthcare, as the contract negotiations have challenges both at EU level and bilaterally.
Discussions are ongoing at the EU level, but no acceptable solution has yet been presented ", writes Susanne Bergman at the National Board of Health and Welfare in an email response.
According to Norwegian NRK, the EU's negotiations with Pfizer have been ongoing since November.
Pfizer has resumed negotiations with the National Board of Health and Welfare
Previously, Pfizer has had a direct dialogue with the National Board of Health and Welfare for its own agreement between the parties, but these negotiations have not led anywhere.
At the initiative of Pfizer, negotiations have now resumed.
On Friday, the National Board of Health and Welfare received a new draft agreement which they will review.
Pfizer confirms that they have a new dialogue with the National Board of Health and Welfare, but can not comment further on the ongoing negotiations.