The Pfizer COVID oral antiviral pills that Israel ordered will arrive in the country on Wednesday, Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said Tuesday in a briefing.
The Health Ministry gave emergency use approval to the pills, called Paxlovid, on Sunday.
The drug received approval by the US Food and Drug Administration last Wednesday. It is the world’s first at-home treatment for the virus. It inhibits the activity of the protease enzyme, which is necessary in the process of replication of the virus in the body.
The drug, administered as tablets, is meant to be taken by patients in mild to moderate condition within the first three days of symptoms onset. Treatment is once every 12 hours for five days.
Paxlovid received FDA approval after showing in a Phase II/III clinical trial that it reduces severe disease, hospitalization and death by 89% when patients are treated early.
According to Pfizer’s data, the effectiveness of the pill should not be altered by variants, including the Omicron variant.