The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today granted Emergency Use Authorization to Pfizer’s (PFE) Covid-19 oral anti-viral pill:

FDA has authorized the emergency use of Paxlovid (nirmatrelvir) for the treatment of mild-to-moderate COVID-19 in adults and pediatric patients with positive results of direct SARS-CoV-2 viral testing, and who are at high risk for progression to severe COVID-19, including hospitalization or death.

The treatment includes nirmatrelvir, which was specifically designed to block the activity of the SARS-CoV-2 Mpro, an enzyme that the coronavirus needs to replicate.

Pfizer said the pill will be made available to patients in the U.S. immediately. According to CNBC, Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla had earlier stated that the company has already shipped some of the pills to the U.S. so they can be prescribed as soon as the FDA authorization comes through.

This is great news - another weapon in our war against COVID-19. Lets hope this works just as well against the COVID-19 Omicron variant.