Jakarta (VNA) – The Food and Drug MonitoringAgency (BPOM) of Indonesia has approved emergency use of Paxlovid to serve thetreatment of COVID-19 patients.
In its press release, BPOM said Paxlovid is approved totreat adult COVID-19 patients who do not require supplemental oxygen and are athigh risk for severe symptoms.
Phase II and III clinical trials showed that Paxlovid, producedby the US firm Pfizer, helps reduce the risk of hospitalisation or deathby 89 percent in severe COVID-19 adult patients with comorbidities who were not hospitalised.
The study also showed that Paxlovid is safe with mild tomoderate side effects such as taste disorder, diarrhea, headache and vomiting.
Paxlovid is one of the five COVID-19 treatment drugs approved by BPOM,including the antivirals Favipiravir and Remdesivir (2020), the monoclonalantibody Regdanvimab (2021) and Molnupiravir (2022).
Indonesia is currently facing a surge in the transmission ofCOVID-19 cases triggered by Omicron subvariants BA.4 and BA.5./.
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