Pfizer Says Antiviral Pill Is Highly Effective in Treating Covid


Pfizer announced on Friday that its pill to treat Covid-19 has been found somewhere. important clinical research to be highly effective in preventing serious illness among at-risk people who take the drug soon after they show symptoms.

The antiviral pill is the second of its kind to show effectiveness against Covid. Seems to be more effective than one. Similar offer from Merck, which is pending federal authorization.

The Pfizer pill, which will be sold under the brand name Paxlovid, reduces the risk of hospitalization or death by 89 percent when given within three days of the onset of symptoms.

Pfizer said an independent panel of experts monitoring the clinical trial recommended that the study be stopped early because the drug’s benefit to patients has proven to be very convincing. The company said it plans to submit the data to the Food and Drug Administration as soon as possible to obtain permission for the pill to be used in the United States.

“The results are truly beyond our wildest dreams,” said Annaliesa Anderson, Pfizer executive director, who led the development of the drug. He said he hopes Paxlovid “could have a major impact on helping our entire lives get back to normal and see the end of the pandemic.”

Treatment may become available in the next few months, but resources are likely to be limited initially. Pfizer and Merck pills are both intended for patients considered high-risk, such as those over the age of 60, or those with conditions such as obesity that make them more susceptible to the serious consequences of Covid.

The arrival of a new class of easy-to-use pills that dramatically reduces hospitalizations could help bring the curtain down on the most severe phase of the pandemic, at least in wealthy countries where most adults are vaccinated.

Pfizer and Merck said they have already started making pills and plan to increase production next year.

The U.S. government is in talks with Pfizer to get enough pills for 1.7 million cycles of treatment, with an additional 3.3 million options, according to a senior administration official. That’s roughly the same amount the United States orders from Merck. The official said the government expects to pay around $700 per treatment course for both drugs.

A number of wealthy countries, including the UK and Australia, have also competed to lock down the supply of Pfizer’s drug.

Pfizer said it plans to offer the drug to poorer countries at discounted prices. The company is in talks with the Pharmaceutical Patent Pool, a United Nations-backed non-profit organization, to allow the pill to be manufactured and sold cheaply in these countries; Merck has already reached a similar agreement.

Pfizer and Merck pills, which can be dispensed in pharmacies and taken at home, are expected to reach many more people than monoclonal antibody treatments typically given by intravenous infusion in a clinic.

Treatment consists of 30 pills given for five days. This includes 10 pills of ritonavir, an old HIV drug that helps the Pfizer drug stay active in the body longer. (Merck’s treatment course is 40 pills over five days.)

The pills have so far been mainly tested in high-risk patients. But Pfizer is also conducting trials on low-risk patients and people living in the same household with infected people.

The event results, released Tuesday, included data from more than 1,200 adults in the United States and overseas who took a Pfizer drug or placebo pill after contracting Covid. Volunteers signed up between July and September, when the Delta variant traveled the world. They were unvaccinated and had at least one trait that increased their risk of becoming seriously ill from the virus, such as older age, obesity or diabetes.

Pfizer’s 89 percent efficacy figure came from a group of volunteers who started treatment within three days of symptoms developing. Including those who started treatment on the fourth or fifth day, the pill reduced the risk of hospitalization or death by 85 percent.

In contrast, the Merck pill was about 50 percent effective when given within five days of the onset of symptoms, but the different designs and timing of the Pfizer and Merck trials do not conclusive such comparisons. Monoclonal antibody treatments reduce hospitalizations and deaths by at least 70 percent in high-risk Covid patients, but these treatments are more expensive and more cumbersome to administer.

Volunteers taking the Pfizer pill reported mostly mild side effects at a slightly lower rate than those taking the placebo pill. This was a promising sign for the drug’s safety and suggests that the Covid symptoms are probably more troubling than any of the pill’s side effects.

The origins of the Pfizer pill date back 19 years to the SARS epidemic. Earlier last year, Pfizer began tweaking the design of the drug so that it could be used to fight Covid and taken as a pill rather than intravenously.

Pfizer’s drug is in the class of so-called protease inhibitors commonly used to treat HIV and hepatitis C. The drug is designed to stop the coronavirus from multiplying by blocking the activity of an important enzyme that the coronavirus uses to multiply inside cells.

Pfizer also said its studies have shown that the drug is safe and does not cause alarming mutations. Some scientists have expressed concerns about Merck’s pill, which works by adding bugs to the virus’s genetic code to stop the virus from reproducing. The Pfizer pill does not do this.

Britain, the first government on Thursday Authorize Merck pillIt is not recommended for women who are pregnant, breastfeeding, or who may become pregnant during their menstrual period.

Carl Zimmer and Stephanie Nolen contributing reporting.



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