Pfizer says antiviral pill cuts risk of severe Covid-19 by 89percent – A trial of Pfizer Inc’s experimental antiviral pill for COVID-19 was stopped early after the drug was shown to cut by 89% the chances of hospitalization or death for adults at risk of developing severe disease, the company said on Friday.
The results appear to surpass those seen with Merck & Co Inc’s pill molnupiravir, which was shown last month to halve the likelihood of dying or being hospitalized for COVID-19 patients also at high risk of serious illness.
Full trial data is not yet available from either company.
Pfizer said it plans to submit interim trial results for its pill, which is given in combination with an older antiviral called ritonavir, to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration as part of the emergency use application it opened in October.
Pfizer’s drug, part of a class known as protease inhibitors, is designed to block an enzyme the coronavirus needs in order to multiply.
Merck’s molnupiravir has a different mechanism of action designed to introduce errors into the genetic code of the virus.
Merck has already sold millions of courses of the treatment, which was approved this week by UK regulators, to the United States, the UK and others.
Britain said earlier this month it had secured 250,000 courses of Pfizer’s antiviral.
Pfizer is also studying whether its pill could be used by people without risk factors for serious Covid-19, as well as to prevent coronavirus infection in people exposed to the virus.
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You can read more about Pfizer says antiviral pill cuts risk of severe Covid-19 – over at https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/pfizer-says-antiviral-pill-cuts-risk-severe-covid-19-by-89-2021-11-05/
