It was the first pill authorized in the United States to treat Covid-19, and has over 89 per cent efficacy in treating the virus, but it came with a catch.
Paxlovid, which is manufactured by Pfizer, debuted late last year, but since its approval, questions have been asked as to why it does take so long to make.
Pfizer's Chief Global Supply Officer, Mike McDermott has announced they are decreasing their production time from nine to seven months.
"We think about the process to make Paxlovid, end to end, it had been almost a nine month process. We've brought that down to about seven months right now, which seems longer than the experience that we had and people know about the vaccine, which is very rapid production."
Paxlovid is reserved only for the highest-risk patients in some American states or dispensed only at certain locations to manage supply.
There are several other Covid-19 treatment options, which Dr. Raymund Razonable of the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota says many doctors do use to supplement Paxlovid's scarcity.
"The FDA guidance is kind of pretty broad and wide, and if you treat everybody that is within that guidance, the supply of course will be limited. And probably unable to keep up with the number of people that test positive."
