January 19, 2022 – Pfizer (New York, NY) will add a production facility for its antiviral COVID-19 pill in France as part of Pfizer’s strategy to boost global production of the drug. Pfizer’s Paxlovid and its main component, nirmatrelvir, has been found to work against Omicron in three separate, unpublished lab studies. Patients take two tablets of nirmatrelvir with one tablet of another antiviral called ritonavir twice a day for five days. The research hasn’t been published in a peer-reviewed medical journal. The FDA authorized Paxlovid in people at high risk of severe disease for COVID-19. Reporting by The Wall Street Journal and Reuters.