WHO 'strongly recommends' Pfizer's COVID-19 antiviral pill

New recommendation was based on the findings of two trials involving almost 3,100 patients which showed that Paxlovid reduced the risk of hospital admission by 85%

The World Health Organization said Friday it "strongly recommended" Pfizer's Covid-19 antiviral pill Paxlovid for patients with milder forms of the disease who were still at a high risk of hospitalisation.

However, the UN agency warned it was "extremely concerned" that the inequality in access seen with Covid vaccines would again leave low- and middle-income countries "pushed to the end of the queue".

U.S. pharma giant Pfizer's combination of Nirmatrelvir and Ritonavir was the "superior choice" of treatment for unvaccinated, elderly or immunocompromised people with Covid, the WHO's experts said in the BMJ medical journal.

For the same patients, the WHO also made a "conditional (weak) recommendation" of the antiviral drug remdesivir made by U.S. biotech firm Gilead -- which it had previously recommended against.

The WHO recommended Paxlovid over remdesivir, as well as over Merck's molnupiravir pill and monoclonal antibodies.

Pfizer's oral treatment prevents hospitalisation more than the "available alternatives, has fewer concerns with respects to harms than molnupiravir, and is easier to administer than intravenous remdesivir and antibodies," the WHO's experts said.

The new recommendation was based on the findings of two trials involving almost 3,100 patients which showed that Paxlovid reduced the risk of hospital admission by 85%.