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| Paxlovid, Pfizer's COVID-19 treatment pill, is seen being packaged in Ascoli, Italy, in this undated handout photo, Nov. 16. Reuters-Yonhap |
Korea reports 109 COVID-19 deaths, first triple-digit toll
By Lee Hyo-jin
The Korean government seeks to secure an additional supply of Pfizer's oral COVID-19 treatment, after the pill became the first oral antiviral drug to have been cleared by the U.S. drug regulator during the pandemic.
"We are closely discussing with Pfizer supply deals additional to the pills for 70,000 people that we have already purchased," Kim Ok-soo, a senior official at the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA), said during a briefing, Thursday.
"Details on shipment schedules, the supply amount and whom they will be used on will be announced later, in accordance with the emergency authorization approval from the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety."
If introduced, the pills will be used in treating COVID-19 patients undergoing home treatment, patients of high-risk groups as well as those showing mild and moderate symptoms, Kim said.
The announcement came after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted emergency authorization for Pfizer's oral drug Paxlovid, Wednesday (local time).
The FDA has given the pill the green light for COVID-19 patients aged 12 and older with mild to moderate symptoms. It should be prescribed as soon as possible after a COVID-19 diagnosis and within five days of symptom onset, the FDA said.
Paxlovid is given as three co-packaged tablets: two nirmatrelvir tablets and one ritonavir tablet.
The oral drug has been widely anticipated by many experts as a possible "game changer" in the battle against the pandemic, considering its efficacy, relatively low price and ease of administration. All of the previously approved COVID-19 treatments required either an injection or intravenous (IV) infusion.
The results from Pfizer's study, involving more than 2,200 people at high risk for developing serious COVID-19 illness, found that the pill reduced the risk of hospitalization or death by 89 percent, when taken within three days of the first symptoms of illness. When taken within five days, the drug reduced the risk of hospitalization and death by 88 percent.
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| Healthcare workers dressed up in Santa Claus costumes prepare to administer coronavirus tests at a testing center in Gwangju, Thursday. Yonhap |
The Korean government said earlier that it plans to secure enough coronavirus treatment pills for 404,000 patients, to be introduced gradually starting in February.
In addition to the deal with Pfizer, it has made an agreement with Merck to purchase enough of its oral drug molnupiravir for 242,000 people. From which company it will purchase the remaining amount is under discussion, the KDCA said.
The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety, for its part, said that it has launched a review for emergency authorization of the Pfizer pill, upon the request of the KDCA.
Meanwhile, Korea is battling its worst COVID-19 crisis yet, as the country saw record-breaking numbers of critical cases and deaths for Wednesday.
According to the KDCA, the number of critically ill patients and deaths reached all-time highs on Wednesday, at 1,083 and 109, respectively. There were 6,919 new infections, raising the aggregated total to 589,978.
Twelve new cases of the Omicron variant were identified, raising the total number of infections to 246. In just three weeks after the country detected it first cases of the variant on Dec. 1 in Incheon, the variant has spread rapidly across major cities, including Seoul, Daegu and the southwestern city of Gwangju.
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