Canada secures orders of Merck, Pfizer COVID-19 antiviral pills
Global News
Canada has announced it has secured purchasing agreements with Pfizer and Merck for their COVID-19 antiviral pills designed to treat the virus.
The federal government has signed purchase agreements with two pharmaceutical companies for their oral COVID-19 treatments.
Filomena Tassi, Canada’s minister of public services and procurement, told reporters on Friday the government has signed agreements with Pfizer and Merck to buy up 1.5 million courses of their antiviral pills, PF-07321332 and Molnupiravir.
Both treatments are under Health Canada review, Tassi added.
“We also know that access to effective, easy-to-use treatments is critical to reducing the severity of COVID infections and will help save lives,” she said.
“As soon as these drugs are authorized for use, the government will work on getting them to provinces and territories as quickly as possible so that health-care providers can help Canadians who need them most.”
As part of its initial order, the government has reached an agreement with Pfizer for one million units of its treatment, pending Health Canada approval.
The government’s deal with Merck is for up to 500,000 pills, with an option to add 500,000 more pending approval, Tassi added.
On Wednesday, Pfizer started a rolling submission with Health Canada for its pill, which it said is designed to block a key enzyme needed for COVID-19 to multiply.
The pill was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration last month, a boon to Novo Nordisk as it looks to regain ground lost to U.S. rival Eli Lilly.
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