Positive COVID Test Result No Longer Required to Prescribe Paxlovid, Lagevrio: FDA

Pfizer's Paxlovid is displayed in Pembroke Pines, Fla., on July 7, 2022. Joe Raedle/Getty Images

Doctors and pharmacists can now prescribe COVID-19 drugs Paxlovid and Lagevrio to patients without a positive test of infection, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said Wednesday.

Pfizer’s Paxlovid and Merck’s Lagevrio were granted emergency-use authorizations by the FDA in December 2021. Both oral pills have since been used as postinfection treatments for patients experiencing mild-to-moderate COVID symptoms.