Nagpur: The vaccine giant Pfizer on Friday said that its experimental antiviral pill for Covid-19 cuts rates for hospitalisation by almost 90 per cent as the drug maker joins the race to produce easy-to-use medication against the novel coronavirus in the US market.
This development comes after its competitor, Merck’s Covid-19 pill, reaches the Food and Drug Administration for review after showing strong results and the United Kingdom becoming the first country to approve it.
According to a report, Pfizer said that it will ask the FDA and other international regulators to authorise the under-review pills as soon as possible after the independent experts recommended halting the company’s study based on the strength of its results. One the vaccine giant applies, the FDA would make a decision within a few weeks or months.
Pfizer’s study was based on the results of 775 adults. Patients who took the pill along with another antiviral had an 89 per cent reduction in their chances of hospitalisation or death as compared to the patients taking the dummy pill. Less than one per cent of patients taking the pill had to be hospitalised but no one died.
Pfizer’s chief scientific officer Dr Mikael Dolsten in an interview said, “We were hoping that we had something extraordinary, but it’s rare that you see great drugs come through with almost 90% efficacy and 100% protection for death.”
