James Kon
Three thousand packs of Paxlovid to treat COVID-19 patients arrived in Brunei Darussalam from London, United Kingdom yesterday. The arrival was the first shipment of the expected 25,000 Paxlovid packs procured by the Ministry of Health (MoH) from Pfizer.
It comes in tablet form and contains two types of medicine – Nirmatrelvir 150mg and Ritonavir 100mg. It is an oral antiviral medicine manufactured by Pfizer.
Paxlovid has been green-lighted for Emergency Use Authorisation (EUA) by the United States (US) Food and Drug Administration and from the Brunei Darussalam Medicines Control Authority (BDMCA), the MoH said.
Paxlovid is administered to stop the virus replicating system by blocking enzyme protease activity needed by virus SARS-CoV-2 to replicate within human cells.
High-risk COVID-19 patients will be given priority to receive Paxlovid treatment to reduce their risk of developing severe symptoms.
A doctor will need to first assess each patient to ensure he is a suitable to receive the medicine. Each pack is for a five-day period.
The public can log on to www.moh.gov.bn, contact Health Advice line at 148 or visit the BruHealth app for information.
