PARIS—France has canceled its order for Merck & Co.’s COVID-19 antiviral drug following disappointing trial data and hopes instead to receive Pfizer’s competing drug before the end of January, the health minister said on Wednesday. France is the first country to publicly say it has canceled an order for the Merck treatment after the company…

President Joe Biden on Tuesday announced the administration has ordered Pfizer’s COVID-19 antiviral pills for 10 million Americans. Biden in a statement said he is “encouraged” by Phase 2/3 data on Pfizer’s Paxlovid pill that suggests it is effective at reducing the risk of severe illness in people infected with COVID-19, the disease caused by…

Pfizer’s experimental COVID-19 antiviral treatment is able to reduce the risk of hospitalization or death from the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus by 89 percent when taken shortly after initial symptoms, the company announced on Tuesday in its full analysis of data from the trial. The U.S.-based pharmaceutical company’s final testing results on the drug, known as PAXLOVID,…

Pharmaceutical giant Pfizer has prepared the first shipments of its COVID-19 oral antiviral pill, which “significantly” reduces the risk of hospitalization and death for high-risk patients, and sent them to the airport for distribution across Europe and America pending approval, it announced Tuesday. “Thrilled to see the first shipments of our COVID-19 antiviral candidate head to…

A new analysis of clinical trial results shows that Merck’s antiviral pill for treating COVID-19 is significantly less effective than previously reported in October, the company announced on Friday. In the updated report, the drugmaker said its antiviral treatment drug, which is called molnupiravir, showed a 30 percent reduction in hospitalizations and deaths from the…

Pfizer Inc’s experimental oral antiviral COVID-19 pill “significantly” reduces the risk of hospitalization and death for high-risk patients, the U.S.-based pharmaceutical company announced on Friday. The drug, known as PAXLOVID, was found in a scheduled interim analysis to reduce the risk of hospitalization or death from the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus by 89 percent…

Britain has become the first country to approve an antiviral COVID-19 treatment that can be taken as a pill at home. The UK national medicines regulator, the MHRA, announced on Nov. 4 that the antiviral Lagevrio (molnupiravir) had been authorised to treat mild to moderate COVID-19—in those with other risk factors, such as obesity, diabetes,…

AMSTERDAM—The pharmaceutical company Merck says it has asked the European Medicines Agency to authorize its COVID-19 antiviral treatment, the first pill that has been shown to treat the disease. In a statement on Monday, Merck said the EU drug regulator had started an expedited licensing process for molnupiravir. If given the green light, it would…

Merck and its partner on Monday announced they filed an emergency use authorization application with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for their oral antiviral medicine for the treatment of COVID-19. The pill is meant to combat cases of mild or moderate COVID-19. Merck said last week that an interim analysis of its phase…

Australia has closed a deal for 300,000 courses of an antiviral pill showing promising signs of slashing COVID-19 deaths and hospitalisations. Molnupiravir is still being trialled in the US and is yet to gain regulatory authorisation. But the federal government has reached an agreement with pharmaceutical companies Merck Sharp and Dohme to supply 300,000 courses…