According to a clinical study, a new corona pill from the manufacturer Pfizer prevents severe disease progression in high-risk patients – and it does so very successfully. Pfizer speaks of an “overwhelming effectiveness”. If approved, the oral antiviral drug has the potential to “save the lives of patients, reduce the severity of Covid-19 infections and avoid up to nine out of ten hospital stays”. The company now plans to submit the data for an emergency approval to the FDA as soon as possible.
US President Joe Biden announced that the US has reserved millions of units of the drug, even though it is not yet officially approved. Great Britain also secured the first batches of the drug. “If the (drug agency) FDA allows it, we may soon have pills that can be used to treat infected people,” said Biden. “Therapy will be another tool in our tool kit to protect people from the worst effects of the pandemic.” British Health Minister Sajid Javid spoke of “incredible results” from the Pfizer study. A US government official said, along with releasing vaccines for children between the ages of five and eleven, the Pfizer pill could mark a turning point in the fight against coronavirus.
The pill called Paxlovid has reduced the likelihood of hospitalization or death from coronavirus infection in high-risk patients by 89 percent, the company said on Friday. The numbers are based on a study of more than 1200 adults who contracted the coronavirus and were at high risk of developing the disease more seriously. They were given the Pfizer pill or a placebo every 12 hours for five days after symptoms began to appear.
In those patients who started treatment within three days of the disease symptoms appearing, the antiviral drug reduced the risk of hospitalization or death by 89 percent, according to Pfizer. There were “similar” results when treatment was started within five days of the onset of symptoms. There was no death in the group that received the drug. Ten people died in the control group.
Pfizer boss Albert Bourla spoke of a “groundbreaking development” in the fight against the corona pandemic. The data would suggest that the drug “has the potential to save patients’ lives, reduce the severity of Covid-19 infections and prevent up to nine out of ten hospital admissions”.
Corona drugs are considered an important addition to vaccines. Pfizer, together with the German company Biontech, produces the corona vaccine Comirnaty, which is used in numerous countries.
Pfizer aims to produce millions of pills by the end of 2022. The shares of the drug manufacturer reacted on Wall Street with a price jump and rose by eight percent to $ 47.38, shares of competitors fell significantly. But shares in airlines and cruise companies also rose in the hope of an effective corona drug. (APA / Red)
