Pfizer has received a priority review voucher from the FDA for its oral COVID-19 treatment Paxlovid.
Why it matters: The drugmaker on Friday was rewarded under a program meant to incentivize the development of medical countermeasures during public health emergencies.
Drugmakers could use the voucher to speed up FDA review for another product. They could also sell the voucher to another company hoping to fast-track a drug to market, often netting tens of millions of dollars or more.
Zoom out: Similar vouchers were already awarded to Gilead for COVID treatment remdesivir and to Moderna and BioNTech for their vaccines.
The few studies that have examined such voucher programs found they had little effect on drug development, though drugmakers who won vouchers said they were a factor in development decisions, a GAO review found.
