Pfizer ups Paxlovid price for commercial sales

US pharma giant Pfizer (NYSE: PFE) has revealed the cost of its oral antiviral treatment for COVID-19, Paxlovid (nirmatrelvir/ritonavir), once the company starts selling the drug commercially.

Up until now, Pfizer had been providing the product to the US government at a price of $530 per five-day course, but from next year this will more than double to a cost of $1,390 for commercial sales.

This is well above what the Institute for Clinical and Economic Review (ICER) most recently said was a fair price range for the drug, of between $563 and $906 per treatment course, as hospitalization rates due to the virus come down and the urgency of the peak of the pandemic continues to ease off.