Pfizer claims its Antiviral Pill Cuts Risk of Coronavirus by 89%

On Friday, Pfizer Inc. said that its experimental antiviral pill to treat coronavirus slushes the risks of severe illness or death in adults by eighty-nine percent. Meanwhile, its CEO pledged to make this capable new weapon (Pfizer antiviral pill) in the battle against the COVID-19 pandemic available worldwide as early as possible. The results of the trial suggest that Pfizer’s pill beats Merck & Co Inc’s antiviral pill, ‘molnupiravir,’ which the Britisher’s regulators approved in a world-first on Thursday.

Pfizer’s Covid-19 pill cuts the risk of hospitalization or death by 89% in high-risk adults exposed to the virus.
•It’s the 2nd antiviral pill behind Merck’s to demonstrate strong effectiveness for treating Covid.
•Pfizer will submit its data to the FDA this month. pic.twitter.com/t88YNNeioA

— Greylock Advisors (@Vfabry) November 5, 2021

Pfizer’s pill, Paxlovid, could secure the United States’ approval by the year-end. Furthermore, Pfizer said that it decided to submit provisional trial results to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration before the 25th November United States Thanksgiving holiday. Because of its high success rate, the officials stopped the trial. Joe Biden, the U.S President, said that the federal government secured millions of Pfizer’s drug doses.

Biden added that after the approval from the FDA, the U.S. might soon have pills that treat the fatal coronavirus. It would be another tool to protect and cure people of the deadly outcomes of the virus. Pfizer shares rose eleven percent to close at $48.61, as the company makes one of the most comprehensively used coronavirus vaccines. Merk’s shares fell ten percent to close at $81.61. Vaccine maker drug companies’ shares took a hit, with Moderna Inc, BioNTech SE, and Novavax all falling eleven to twenty-one percent.

How to use Pfizer’s pill?

Pfizer’s antiviral pill is given in combination with ritonavir – an older antiviral pill. The treatment using the Pfizer drug consists of three pills given two times a day. The company has been developing it for almost two years. The Merck and Pfizer pills are keenly awaited, with just a few available options for treating people infected with the coronavirus. Unfortunately, either of the company didn’t share the full trial statistics publicly.

In an interview, Chief Executive Officer of Pfizer, Albert Bourla, said that the company is in active talks with around ninety countries over supply contracts for its antiviral pill. Further, he added that Pfizer’s goal is that everybody across the world would be able to have the pill as early as possible. He also said that Pfizer expects to price its drug close to the Merck pill’s price for high-income nations. Instead, for low-income nations, Bourla said that the drug company is considering many options, with the intention of no barrier for them as well to have access.

Professor of pediatrics at Stanford University School of Medicine, Dr. Grace Lee, said that vaccines would be the most reliable and effective tool that the world has in this coronavirus pandemic. Whereas these oral medications are going to enhance the ability to cut the risk of coronavirus severe illness, hospitalization, and death, which is significant, but it won’t prevent infection.

While over seven billion vaccine shots were administered globally, that covered only around half of the population of the world. In the U.S., fifty-eight percent of all people received full vaccination, including seventy percent of adults.

Manufacturing Goals of Pfizer Antiviral Pills

Pfizer said that it expects to manufacture around one hundred eighty thousand treatment courses by the 2021 end and at least fifty million courses by 2022 end, including twenty-one million in the initial half of next year. Bourla said that depending on the better-than-projected results, the drugmaker company is considering possibly doubling the manufacturing target of the following year.

Read Also: CDC Finally Approved Pfizer Vaccine Shots for Kids 5 to 11