The federal authorities has signed buy agreements with two pharmaceutical firms for his or her oral COVID-19 remedies.
Filomena Tassi, Canada’s minister of public companies and procurement, instructed reporters on Friday the federal government has signed agreements with Pfizer and Merck to purchase as much as 1.5 million programs of their antiviral remedy, PF-07321332 and Molnupiravir.
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Each remedies are underneath Well being Canada evaluation, Tassi added.
“We additionally know that entry to efficient, easy-to-use remedies is crucial to decreasing the severity of COVID infections and can assist save lives,” she stated.
“As quickly as these medication are approved to be used, the federal government will work on getting them to provinces and territories as shortly as doable in order that health-care suppliers may help Canadians who want them most.”
As a part of its preliminary order, the federal government has reached an settlement with Pfizer for a million programs of its remedy, pending Well being Canada approval.
The federal government’s cope with Merck is for as much as 500,000 programs of its remedy, with an choice so as to add 500,000 extra pending approval, Tassi added.
On Wednesday, Pfizer began a rolling submission with Well being Canada for its tablet, which it stated is designed to dam a key enzyme wanted for the COVID-19 virus to multiply.
Pfizer additionally stated its remedy can lower the prospect of hospitalization or loss of life for adults susceptible to extreme illness by 89 per cent.
In the meantime, Merck’s tablet continues to be underneath evaluation by Well being Canada as the corporate continues its rolling submission.
Final week, Merck shared knowledge suggesting its drug was considerably much less efficient than beforehand thought, decreasing hospitalizations and deaths in high-risk people by round 30 per cent.
The remedy has acquired approval in the UK.
Heart specialist and epidemiologist Dr. Christopher Labos stated that the antiviral drugs may probably restrict the pressure of COVID-19 on Canada’s health-care system by decreasing the results of the virus, however they don’t “forestall the issue.”
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“It simply treats the issue,” he stated. “When it comes to stopping outbreaks, vaccines are clearly the higher plan of action.”
Labos additionally identified that vaccines are cheaper than the drugs, which he stated are “slightly costly,” and real-world knowledge is required to see if their profit outweighs the associated fee.
One other concern is the logistics of treating sufferers with the drugs since they must be administered inside 5 days of an infection, in keeping with Labos.
“We’re going to have to verify that there’s a pathway in place for these drugs to really get to the sufferers for them to be efficient,” he stated.
“When you begin too late within the course, it’s uncertain they’re going to have a lot of an impression.”
— with information from The Canadian Press, Reuters and Eric Stober
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