Pfizer UK managing director Ben Osborne said on Tuesday that the pharmaceutical company's Covid-19 drug, Paxlovid, could be available in the UK "very early in 2022".

Meanwhile, Merck's coronavirus pill, Molnupiravir, will be released as part of a UK trial in late November.

Speaking to Sky News, Ben Osborne said pharmaceutical giant Pfizer was "working at a real pace with regulators around the world" and expected to apply for a marketing authorization for his Covid drug in the UK "in the next few weeks".

The United Kingdom has already ordered 250,000 doses of Pfizer treatment and expects to receive the green light for its use next year.

Pfizer CEO Albert Burla, meanwhile, said the company is in talks with 90 countries over contracts to supply its experimental pill against Covid-19, which shows it reduces the risk of hospitalization or death by 89% in patients at high risk of severe coronavirus disease.

He also said Pfizer expects to set the price of its drug, called Paxlovid, close to that of Merck & Co, Inc., an oral antiviral drug candidate.

Merck's contract price in the United States for her Molnupiravir pill is about $ 700 for a five-day course of therapy.

/BNR