{"id":3368,"date":"2021-12-01T10:39:21","date_gmt":"2021-12-01T10:39:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/indiamedicine.org\/?p=3368"},"modified":"2026-03-26T10:56:43","modified_gmt":"2026-03-26T10:56:43","slug":"pfizer-boosts-paxlovid-manufacturing-capacity-as-mercks-rival-covid-pill-hits-surprise-efficacy-setback","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/indiamedicine.org\/?p=3368","title":{"rendered":"Pfizer boosts Paxlovid manufacturing capacity as Merck&#8217;s rival COVID pill hits surprise efficacy setback"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"485\" height=\"321\" src=\"https:\/\/indiamedicine.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/image.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-3369\" srcset=\"https:\/\/indiamedicine.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/image.png 485w, https:\/\/indiamedicine.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/image-300x199.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 485px) 100vw, 485px\" \/><figcaption><em>Pfizer&#8217;s oral COVID-19 antiviral, Paxlovid, would still be effective against the emerging Omicron variant, CEO Albert Bourla said. (Pfizer)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>The efficacy data for Pfizer\u2019s oral COVID-19 drug now look so appealing that the Big Pharma company is boosting manufacturing capacity even before an expected emergency use authorization from the FDA.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Pfizer now expects to make 80 million courses of COVID drug Paxlovid by the end of 2022, Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla told CNBC during a Monday interview. The company previously said it plans to have capacity to make 50 million courses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The revelation came after Merck reported the risk reduction in hospitalization and death from its Ridgeback Therapeutics-partnered COVID antiviral, molnupiravir, fell from 50% to 30% in the final analysis. The updated result fueled expectations of increased demand for Paxlovid, which has shown an 89% risk reduction in outpatients.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Pfizer has filed Paxlovid for an FDA emergency use authorization and has signed a contract to provide 10 million courses to the U.S. government by 2022 for $5.29 billion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>RELATED: Is Molnupiravir a turkey? Merck slips out drop in efficacy of COVID-19 antiviral over Thanksgiving period<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Meanwhile, Pfizer is investing up to $1 billion to support the manufacturing and distribution of the COVID drug, including potentially signing on contract manufacturers, the company has said. It isn\u2019t immediately clear whether the extra courses will come from Pfizer\u2019s own facilities or external help.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The emergence of the new coronavirus variant, omicron, stoked concerns of the power of existing vaccines and therapeutics. Despite those worries, Paxlovid will likely still be effective, Bourla said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThe good news is when it comes to our treatment, it was designed with that in mind, it was designed with the fact that most mutations are coming in the spikes,\u201d Bourla said on CNBC\u2019s \u201cSquawk Box.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus behind COVID-19 uses the spike protein on its surface to infect healthy cells. Paxlovid is a protease inhibitor that\u2019s designed to block an enzyme that the virus needs to replicate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>RELATED: Pfizer to become $100B behemoth next year thanks to COVID-19 drug and vaccine: analyst<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>With molnupiravir\u2019s efficacy slump and Roche\u2019s retreat from its Atea Pharmaceuticals-partnered COVID pill program, Pfizer\u2019s now looks to be the king in oral COVID treatment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Before Merck\u2019s data update and Pfizer\u2019s capacity increase, SVB Leerink analyst Geoffrey Porges projected Paxlovid could contribute $24.2 billion to Pfizer\u2019s top-line in 2022 alone. Also thanks to an estimated $29.7 billion from BioNTech-shared COVID vaccine Comirnaty, Pfizer\u2019s total revenue next year could exceed $100 billion, Porges said in an investor note last week.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The efficacy data for Pfizer\u2019s oral COVID-19 drug now look so appealing that the Big Pharma company is boosting manufacturing capacity even before an expected emergency use authorization from the FDA. Pfizer now expects to make 80 million courses of COVID drug Paxlovid by the end of 2022, Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla told CNBC during [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3368","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/indiamedicine.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3368","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/indiamedicine.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/indiamedicine.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indiamedicine.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indiamedicine.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3368"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/indiamedicine.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3368\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3370,"href":"https:\/\/indiamedicine.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3368\/revisions\/3370"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/indiamedicine.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3368"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indiamedicine.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3368"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indiamedicine.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3368"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}