Health Canada approves Pfizer antiviral treatment, but supply may be limited

Drug can help prevent high-risk people from ending up in the hospital but supply may be limited

Health Canada added another tool to its pandemic-fighting arsenal Monday, approving Pfizer’s antiviral treatment for COVID-19 as the rapid spread of the Omicron variant continued to tax the country’s health-care system and millions of students returned to in-person learning.

The agency authorized Paxlovid for adult patients with mild or moderate COVID-19 who are also at high risk of becoming more seriously ill. Health Canada did not authorize it for use on teenagers or on patients who are already hospitalized because of COVID-19.

Hospitalizations continued to rise Monday as Ontario reported 578 COVID-19 patients in intensive care units and 3,887 in hospital overall, up from 3,595 a day before. Quebec, meanwhile, reported 3,381 hospitalized COVID-19 patients, including 286 in ICU.

Dr. Supriya Sharma, chief medical adviser with Health Canada, said authorization comes at a “crucial time in the pandemic as we’re faced with new variants.”

The drug could help alleviate pressure on health-care systems by decreasing the number of high-risk people who would require hospitalization, but health officials noted on a conference call Monday that supply would be an issue early on.

Dr. Theresa Tam, Canada’s chief medical officer, said Paxlovid’s impact likely won’t be obvious right away.

“A lot of it depends on the initial supply and we all know that the supply isn’t going to be great at the start,” she said. “For the Omicron wave itself, it may contribute, but it won’t be a key contributor to the current wave.

“So it is very much another layer, another tool as we progress over the next month.”

Federal Health Minister JeanYves Duclos said Canada has already received its first shipment of 30,000 treatment courses of the Pfizer drug, with another 120,000 expected through March.

In Ottawa, Procurement Minister Filomena Tassi said Monday that obtaining Paxlovid will help keep Canada’s hospitalization figures from continuing to creep upwards.

“I think the timing of this (authorization) is also very important,” she said. “The bottom line is … it keeps people potentially out of the hospitals.”

The prescription medication is meant to be taken at home within five days of the start of symptoms, timing that could prove difficult as Canada deals with a limited capacity for PCR testing.

‘‘ So it is very much another layer, another tool as we progress over the next month.

DR. THERESA TAM CHIEF MEDICAL OFFICER