STAT November 23, 2021
Nicholas Florko

Biden’s big bet on antivirals

In a little-noticed regulatory move in September, the federal government moved to give pharmacists a much larger pandemic-response role — specifically, allowing them to prescribe and administer Covid-19 treatments.

Now, with Covid-19 antivirals from Pfizer and Merck on the way, the change could go a long way toward solving the biggest issue with the forthcoming rollout of those new medications: Logistics.

Even though the drugs have been cast as pandemic game-changers, my colleague Lev Facher writes this morning, basic infrastructural issues with the U.S. health system may prevent them from reaching the hands of those who need them most.

The antivirals need to be taken as soon as possible after symptom onset — ideally within...

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