FDA set to approve Pfizer, Merck COVID-19 pills within days
Yahoo Finance's Anjalee Khemlani discusses the Omicron wave concerns hitting America, the outlook for COVID-19 treatments, and Walmart and CVS limiting purchases of at-home tests amid high demand.
Video Transcript
JULIE HYMAN: But first this morning, we do have to check in on the latest COVID headlines. And there are many, indeed, to choose from. Maybe we should start by looking at the glass as a little bit half-full, right? That we are seeing some data start to come out of South Africa. Not only that we are already perhaps seeing cases peak there and start to come down, but that this latest variant does indeed have a lower risk of hospitalization.
Our Anjalee Khemlani, as always, is tracking all the headlines for us. And, Anjalee, I'm trying to take the good news where I can.
ANJALEE KHEMLANI: We all are, Julie. Unfortunately, what I would say is that take it with a grain of salt. So let's look into what just got released. We got a new study, non-peer-reviewed yet from the National Institute for Communicable Diseases of South Africa.
And what they found is that the Omicorn variant was 80% less likely to result in hospitalization and-- compared to all other strains. And 70% less likely for severe disease when compared to Delta alone. It was about the same for other strains, though.
So that all sounds really good, but the cav-- the big caveat there that the authors noted was that they relied largely on the fact that most of South Africa saw a huge Delta wave in July. So there's likely some immunity and protection there in addition to the vaccination. So that could be skewing results.
We're also waiting for studies to come out of the UK to help add to this body of knowledge. So this is really, really early stuff. But, again, what we've been seeing so far has largely been good news, especially for those who have been vaccinated.
JULIE HYMAN: Indeed, and especially boosted. Also, some good news on the treatment front, right? Because it looks like the FDA is poised to approve those two treatment options from Pfizer and Merck, even as the testing area is lagging a little bit. But let's talk about that treatment news first of all.
ANJALEE KHEMLANI: Yeah, absolutely. So Bloomberg reported that while we are waiting for, of course, those two approvals for the Merck and Pfizer pills today, that the US government has already gone ahead and is ready for purchases and to release those pills.
We know that, we've seen on social media, Pfizer has already talked about the fact that these pills have, in fact, been ready for shipment already and started to be released to certain places really in advance. So you can kind of tell how ready they are to get this to the finish line quickly.
As it stands right now, we can expect upon approval 400,000 courses of Merck and 65 courses of the Pfizer pill. So, as you can see, Merck has a leg up on this. In addition, by the end of January, about three million Merck courses and 250,000 Pfizer courses are expected for the US government.
Meanwhile, on the testing front, of course, everyone knows that the struggle to get their hands on rapid tests, while we also see some delays in turnaround times for PCRs. Those rapid tests are in such high demand and such short supply that some of the biggest retailers have actually put caps on purchases.
Right now, CVS reporting a six-limit cap in stores and online, Walgreens 4 testing kits online-only, stores can set their own limits, and Walmart eight online maximum, and the stores vary there. So really, just a sign of the times right now what we're expecting into the holiday season.
JULIE HYMAN: And, of course, that's if you can even find any of those tests, which at a lot of Walgreens and CVS and Walmart and anywhere, you can't. All right. Thanks, Anjalee. Appreciate it.
