Brazil's highest health authority approved on Wednesday the emergency use of Paxlovid, the drug developed by US pharmaceutical company Pfizer to treat COVID-19.
The Brazilian National Health Surveillance Agency (Anvisa) chose to endorse the use of the drug after analyzing “all available scientific evidence and having carefully weighed the risks against the related benefits”.
The entity noted that the authorization is “temporary” and only for “emergency use, on an experimental basis”, as indicated in a note.
Prior to Brazil, Paxlovid, an orally administered antiviral that combines nirmatrelvir and ritonavir, had already been approved in the United States, the European Union, Canada, China, Australia, Japan, the United Kingdom, and Mexico.
It is recommended for use in the treatment of COVID-19 in adults who do not require supplemental oxygen, but are at high risk of progressing to severe forms of the disease caused by SARS-CoV-2.
“The world is waiting with hope and urgency for effective therapies that are easily accessible and that allow the comprehensive treatment of COVID-19,” said Meiruze Freitas, member of the Anvisa Collegiate Board, in defending the approval of Paxlovid.
He also stressed that its use allows the addition of “a new treatment strategy” to “reduce the damage of the pandemic”, although he insisted that “vaccination continues to be the best strategy to avoid hospitalizations and deaths.”
Brazil is, along with the United States and India, one of the most affected countries in the world by the coronavirus pandemic, with 659,504 deaths and 29.9 million infected since the outbreak of the virus, two years and a month ago.
According to official data, on the last day there were 263 new deaths and almost 34,000 positive ones in the country, which has been experiencing a steady decline in COVID statistics since mid-February, once the peak caused by the Ómicron variant has been overcome.
As for vaccination, almost 75% of the 213 million Brazilians are on the full schedule and around 40% already have the first additional dose in their arms.
(With information from EFE)
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