FDA allows private clinics to sell Covid-19 antiviral drugs
Private clinics under the Health Facility Act 1998 are now allowed to purchase and sell Covid-19 antiviral drugs approved by Thailand’s Food and Drug Administration (FDA), according to a FDA announcement on Wednesday.
FDA secretary-general Dr Phaisan Dankhum said that before the new regulation, manufacturers and importers of antiviral drugs were allowed to supply the drugs to private hospitals only.
The FDA’s latest move would enable infected people to receive treatment along with the drugs at any hospital or clinic. However, prescriptions for such drugs must still be made at the physician’s discretion.
Currently, four antiviral drugs have been approved by the FDA, namely Favipiravir, Remdesivir, Molnupiravir and Paxlovid.
On Monday, Public Health permanent secretary Dr Kiattiphum Wongrajit said the ministry aimed to make Covid treatment and drugs more widely available as steps were underway to redesignate the disease as endemic from a pandemic.
Not all Covid-19 patients need antiviral drugs, as those with no or mild symptoms can take Fah Talai Jone capsules until they are cured, Kiattiphum added.
