Biden unveils new initiative to provide free COVID-19 pills to Americans

Drew Angerer/Getty Images News

U.S. President Joe Biden announced the launch of a new initiative called the "Test to Treat" program to enable Americans to undergo COVID-19 testing at a pharmacy and receive free oral therapeutics immediately.

"We're launching the "Test to Treat" initiative so people can get tested at a pharmacy, and if they're positive, receive antiviral pills on the spot, at no cost," Biden said Tuesday during the State of the Union speech.

Currently, oral COVID-19 pills molnupiravir and Paxlovid, developed by Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) and Merck (NYSE:MRK)/ Ridgeback Biotherapeutics, respectively, have been authorized by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for at-home use.

Paxlovid has indicated 89% efficacy, and molnupiravir has shown about 30% efficacy in reducing the risk of hospitalization or death in late-stage trials involving patients with mild-to-moderate COVID-19.

Biden said Pfizer (PFE) would deliver 1 million pills in March and more than double that in April.

In addition, the Biden administration is set to announce a national preparedness plan for COVID-19 on Wednesday, outlining how "to move forward safely and get back to our more normal routines," according to a statement from the White House.

During the State of the Union speech, Biden said that the U.S. is ready to deploy new vaccines within 100 days rather than in months or years.

Comments

[lshiang]

Pfizer and Merck will certainly benefit from this initiative.

[AlieGee]

@lshiang Hopefully you own shares. Also like AZN....with a decent
dividend. Keep sending checks while the stock rises. Not a bad
gig !

[ccchk82]

Why did FDA approve a drug with 30% efficacy when there is one with 89% efficacy? Pay-to-play reciprocity?

[darnoc111]

@ccchk82 Maybe neither work.

[ccchk82]

@darnoc111 Yup, just like the 'vaccines'

[GalXZ]

@ccchk82 Some people can't take the Pifzer.

[Hubert Biagi]

Still no real support for therapeutics. Still trying to stop the virus and all it's variants. Never going to happen. Just take the "blue" pill and go on with your lives, right?

[Billyd-75]

Yeah let's fight inflation by making more free college by writing off debt and more free drugs just like our free PPP loans and free stimulus. All this free stuff is what caused inflation in the first place. We should have felt the pain of shutting down the economy for no reason. Instead we kicked the can down the road. Well it's the end of the road and inflation is here to stay if not get worse with more free stuff.

[ccchk82]

@Billyd-75 Yeah. "lnflation is good," said the Socialists.

[darnoc111]

Let's instead send our vaccines to Russia to be given to their troops. That should help to end the war fairly quickly. I will donate mine!

[M.i.L]

@darnoc111 you should be our next president with such great ideas!

[AlieGee]

It's FREE.........Raise taxes they would like to do - same as they did irrational things to stop crude exploration and thus high prices.......done before Ukraine problem..

[RoseNose]

My health insurer just added Ivermectin to the formulary.... March 1st. Hmm.
Iowa is a great place to live and Kim Reynolds is an amazing governor.

[FringDook]

Surprised he isn't forcing us to take it like the jab. Maybe hide it in a hot dog like when you give a medicine to your precious Fido.

[HavingFunToday]

I just hate when the federal government lies to us about "free" stuff they are giving us. Its not free it is paid for by US federal tax dollars so everyone paying taxes is paying for it.

[RetiredAndLovingLife]

Imagine if trump had just said this. It would have been 4 more years and no invasion.

[M.i.L]

@RetiredAndLovingLife I believe your correct for the 4 years and no invasion. Trump would of bent to putins demands as much as he could so yes no invasion. Trump wanted out of nato now he says it's the best thing since slice bread. Flip flopping like a typical politician.

[RCCH]

@M.i.L you've just revealed you level of knowledge, but help yourself to some more koolaid

[FringDook]

@RCCH only if it's big pharma sponsored kool-aid

[All-in-MSOS]

Hey dems - honest question… would you be OK with a few mean tweets to have gas back at $2.00/Gallon?

Great choice voting like it’s your high school prom

[CS15]

Covid is over. Time to move on.

[ccchk82]

@CS15 COVID-19 may be over but the agenda to keep the fear alive will not be over before the 2024 Election. It's a wealth and power grabbing tool for the people who benefit most from it. Look at what's happening in Hong Kong. You must be kidding yourself if you dont think that PFE and MRK are going to make tons of profit from their newly approved COVID drugs.

[AlieGee]

@ccchk82 Good points.....buy the pharmas.

[c714613]

Free? Taxpayer funded

[calendarspread]

More taxpayer funded grift. Pfizer must have done one hell of a lobbying job.

[kb9wnt]

Can I take the $500 the government pays for the "free" pills instead of the "free" pills?

[Life is good]

The biggest help the government can provide is to stop spending money on solutions hoping it resonates politically. It simply adds to the national debt.

[bale002]

Free? From the government?

No. No. No.

For the last time, no.

[All-in-MSOS]

This old man is stuck on a virus that is already gone. Be a leader, move the nation forward, stop selling yourself on fear

[Sgt_Pepper4]

Another waste of money. Another contribution to the fall of America.

[Atlanta Capital Professional]

When I read the headline I had a fleeting thought that the government was now promoting the virus.