Review of COVID-19 Therapies

Background

Several drug treatments for the management of COVID-19 are approved for use in Canada. Currently, the federal government, through the Public Health Agency of Canada, is responsible for overseeing the procurement and allocation of these drugs to ensure their availability for federal, provincial, and territorial health care systems. The following drugs are currently funded by the Public Health Agency of Canada: nirmatrelvir-ritonavir (Paxlovid), remdesivir (Veklury), and tocilizumab (Actemra).

Policy Issue

Gathering evidence on the safety, efficacy, and effectiveness of these therapies is needed to inform future decisions about their procurement, allocation, and equitable distribution within Canadian health care systems.

Objective

The objective of the evidence reviews was to synthesize and appraise the current evidence on the safety, efficacy, and/or effectiveness of these therapies.

Methods