Korea to use oral COVID-19 pills from Friday

A public healthcare worker in Bupyeong District, Incheon, participates in a mock distribution drill of oral COVID-19 pills, Wednesday. Yonhap

By Lee Hyo-jin

Korea will receive its first shipment of COVID-19 antiviral pills on Thursday, which the government plans to use on elderly patients aged 65 and over, along with immunocompromised patients at risk of developing critical health issues.

The Ministry of Health and Welfare announced Wednesday that 21,000 courses of Paxlovid, the oral COVID-19 pills developed by Pfizer, will arrive on Thursday and will be dispensed from Friday.

The initial batches are among the 762,000 the government has purchased from the pharmaceutical company. The ministry added that 10,000 more doses are expected to be delivered by the end of January.

As the initial delivery is highly limited, the government has decided to limit eligibility on a priority basis: people aged 65 and older and those with weak immune system, who are experiencing mild to moderate COVID-19 symptoms.

The authorities noted that eligibility will be adjusted or expanded depending on the supply situation and the number of patients.

Patients undergoing home treatment may be prescribed the drugs through contactless consultation with a physician. The patients' family members may pick up the pills from a designated drug store, or the pills can be delivered to their home by local government officials or pharmacists.

"Using the initial supply, we roughly estimate that over 1,000 patients per day will be administered the oral pills," Vice Health Minister Yoo Geun-hyuk said during a briefing.

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Yoo also said the antiviral pills so far appear to be effective against the Omicron variant, with more study results to come.

Vice Health Minister Yoo Geun-hyuk speaks during a briefing on the government's plan to use COVID-19 antiviral pills, at Government Complex Sejong, Wednesday. Yonhap

The oral treatments will be provided for free, regardless of the patient's vaccination history.

The health authorities stressed that patients must take the pills as prescribed and warned that trading of the drugs will be subject to prosecution under the pharmaceutical affairs law.

Paxlovid is administered as three co-packaged tablets ― two nirmatrelvir tablets and one ritonavir tablet ― which work together to inhibit the replication process of the coronavirus.

Earlier on Dec. 27, the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety cleared the pill for patients aged 12 and older weighing at least 40 kilograms. The pills should be prescribed as soon as possible after a COVID-19 diagnosis and within five days of the onset of symptoms, to be taken every 12 hours for five days.

However, the drug ministry did not recommend the pills for patients with kidney or liver diseases. It also warned of severe or life-threatening interactions if taken with several widely used medications including pethidine, ranolazine, amiodarone and colchicine.

Medical experts viewed that the oral treatments may alleviate the burden on the public medical system by reducing hospital admissions, but will have limited effects.

"The antiviral pill is not a medication that can prevent the infection, so it should be used as a supplementary measure along with vaccines and social distancing," said Kim Woo-joo, an infectious disease professor at Korea University.

Meanwhile, the drug safety ministry approved the use of Nuvaxovid, the COVID-19 vaccine from Novavax, making it the fifth vaccine to be used in the country after AstraZeneca, Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson.

The two-dose vaccine has been cleared for people aged 18 and older and is to be administered with a three-week interval. The doses will be distributed by local drug maker SK Bioscience, with which Novavax has signed a manufacturing contract.

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