Britain today finally approved a 'life-saving' antiviral Covid pill that can be taken by vulnerable people at home.
Paxlovid, made by vaccine giant Pfizer, was given the green light by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA).
It will be doled out to adults who could be vulnerable to the virus due to their age, weight or a prior chronic illness.
The UK has also bumped its original order of the drug to 2.75million courses, after commentators criticised ministers for initially only ordering 250,000.
While the commercial agreement between Pfizer and the UK is confidential, health chiefs in America are reported to have paid the equivalent of £390 for each of the 10million courses it ordered.
If applied to the UK, it would mean No10 has spent in the region of £1billion to buy supplies.
While Paxlovid had promising results in trials it is unknown how the antiviral works against Omicron. The MHRA said it was working with Pfizer to establish if it is less effective.
Details on how the drug will be distributed in the UK such as which groups will be prioritised, and when exactly it will be available for use, are yet to be revealed.
The decision to approve Paxlovid for use in the UK came after the MHRA found the drug – which can be taken at home – was safe and effective at reducing the risks of being admitted to hospital and death in people with mild to moderate infection and who are also at an increased risk of developing severe disease.
In a clinical trial in high-risk adults with symptomatic illness, it was found to reduce the risk of being admitted to hospital and of death by almost 90 per cent.
Health Secretary Sajid Javid said: 'The UK has been a world leader at finding and rolling out Covid treatments to patients.
'This is further proved by the MHRA being one of the first in the world to approve this life-saving antiviral.
'We are also leading the whole of Europe in the number of antivirals we’ve bought per person – with over 2.75million courses of this antiviral secured for NHS patients by the Antivirals Taskforce.
'The booster campaign, testing and antiviral defences ensure our country is in the strongest possible position to deal with the threat posed by Omicron as we head into the new year.'
Developed by Pfizer, Paxlovid is an antiviral medicine with a combination of active ingredients, PF-07321332 and ritonavir, that works by inhibiting a protease required for virus replication.
This prevents Covid from multiplying, keeping virus levels low and helping the body to overcome the viral infection.
The two active substances of Paxlovid come as separate tablets that are packaged together and taken together, twice a day by mouth for five days.
Dr June Raine, MHRA chief executive, said: 'Today we have given our regulatory approval for Paxlovid, a Covid treatment found to cut Covid related hospitalisations and deaths by 89 per cent when taken within three days of the start of symptoms.
'We now have a further antiviral medicine for the treatment of Covid that can be taken by mouth rather than administered intravenously.
'This means it can be administered outside a hospital setting, before Covid has progressed to a severe stage.
'I hope the announcement today gives reassurance to those particularly vulnerable to Covid, for whom this treatment has been approved. For these individuals, this treatment could be life-saving.'
Based on the clinical trial data, MHRA said it had found Paxlovid is most effective when taken during the early stages of infection and so recommends its use as soon as possible and within five days of the start of symptoms.
It has been authorised for use in people aged 18 and above who have mild to moderate Covid infection and at least one risk factor for developing severe illness.
Such risk factors include obesity, being over 60, diabetes mellitus, or heart disease.
Ben Osborn, country manager at Pfizer UK, said: 'This milestone is an important moment in our continued fight against Covid, offering the NHS another possible treatment option as cases continue to rise.
'This at-home therapy, shown in clinical trials to reduce hospitalisations and save lives, has the potential to lessen the devastating impact of a virus that has now taken over five million lives globally.'
Critics previously accused No10 of being 'asleep at the wheel' in its small order of Paxlovid, when considering the huge efforts that went into procuring Covid jabs.
Lord Bilimoria, president of the Confederation of British Industry (CBI), told the Telegraph earlier this month that he had been lobbying ministers for months to secure millions more courses of antiviral drugs for the British public.
'We need every GP in the country to have a stock of these tablets. The moment somebody older tests positive, they go to their GP, and they take the tablets for five days. This should be our second line of defence behind vaccines,' he said at the time.
'We're talking about saving our economy hundreds of billions of pounds from endless Covid disruption. It’s a no brainer.
The MHRA has already approved another antiviral treatment called molnupiravir, sold by drug firm Merck and branded as Lagevrio.
This month Merck revealed their pill was just 30 per cent effective at reducing the risk of hospitalisation and death among the vulnerable, lower than earlier estimates.
The UK has already ordered 480,000 courses of molnupiravir which are already being offered to more than 1million Britons at serious risk of becoming severely ill with Covid, like cancer patients on chemotherapy.
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