FDA authorizes broader access to Pfizer's COVID-19 pill

Yahoo Finance's Anjalee Khemlani joins the Live show to discuss the FDA's authorization of broader access to Pfizer’s COVID-19 pill.

Video transcript

BRAD SMITH: Also authorizing broader access to Paxlovid. What's the latest there?

ANJALEE KHEMLANI: That's right. So Paxlovid, that's the Pfizer treatment for COVID. There's now broader access. It can be delivered through pharmacies. And that's going to be interesting because a lot of doctors are kind of pushing back on this, saying, we already have such limited results on who benefits from it. We know there's rebound cases in many instances, and we've seen high profile individuals with that. So there's a lot of concern about what expansion really means and whether or not we're actually serving the right population and giving access to people who really need it.

Meanwhile, in Africa, they've got a memorandum of understanding with the CDC there to start delivering treatment. So they're getting it for the first time. So there's a lot of debate right now. And this has been true, really, across the board when it comes to treatments and vaccines about what the long-term protection is from these treatments. So we're still, even with monoclonal antibodies, we're still right now in a phase where, unfortunately, even after two years, we're still learning a lot more of this virus and waiting for that fall variant.

BRAD SMITH: Wow.