Final data for Pfizer's new antiviral pill against coronavirus show efficacy of nearly 90% in preventing hospitalization and death in high-risk patients, the company announced Tuesday.
In addition, recent laboratory data suggest that the treatment maintains its effectiveness against the Omicron variant that is spreading around the world.
The pill could thus become one of the first two oral treatments for Covid-19, along with Merck's experimental equivalent, but it reduces the risk of hospitalisation by only 30%, and meets with reservations from some scientists concerned about causing congenital abnormalities.
Pfizer's final data are in line with preliminary results on 1,200 volunteers that the company announced last month, results that showed the pill prevented 89% of hospitalizations and deaths. The new data involves 1,000 additional volunteers.
No deaths were recorded in the group receiving the treatment, compared with 12 in the placebo group.
Production of the pill has already begun, such as at this Pfizer facility in Freiburg, Germany (Reuters/Pfizer).
Pfizer's pill, which will be branded Paxlovid if approved, is taken every 12 hours for five days after the onset of symptoms, along with the older antiviral drug ritonavir.
The pill, designed to block a coronavirus enzyme, belongs to a class of protease inhibitors, which also includes drugs for HIV, hepatitis C and other viruses.
In an interview with Reuters, Pfizer chief scientific officer Michael Dolsten spoke of "excellent results" and estimated that U.S. and European regulators would soon approve the drug's launch.
Dolsten also assured that, according to laboratory data, the antiviral treatment covers Omicron "like any other variant of concern."
Pfizer had previously announced that production would cover 180.000 patients this year and 80 million in 2022.
[/p]The US government has already secured supplies for 10 million patients for a total of $5.29 billion.
Source: in.gr
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