Pfizer develops Covid-19 pill, cuts hospital stay and death by 89%
Pfizer has said its new Covid-19 pill reduces the risk of hospitalization and death by 89 per cent and called the drug a “game-changer.”
The latest round of clinical trials showed that just 0.8 per cent of patients who received PAXLOVID were hospitalised and none died compared to seven per cent of patients given the placebo.
Pfizer plans to halt further enrolments into the study due to the overwhelming efficacy demonstrated and plans to submit the data as part of its ongoing rolling submission to the US FDA to get the pill authorised for Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) as soon as possible.
“Today’s news is a real game-changer in the global efforts to halt the devastation of this pandemic,” said Pfizer’s CEO Albert Bourla.
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“Given the continued global impact of Covid-19, we have remained laser-focused on the science and fulfilling our responsibility to help healthcare systems and institutions around the world while ensuring equitable and broad access to people everywhere,” Bourla added.
Pfizer is the second company to develop a pill for treating Covid-19 patients early in the course of the disease.
Last month, Merck & Co and partner Ridgeback Biotherapeutics submitted a pill to regulators after a study showed it slashed the risk of getting seriously ill or dying by half in patients with mild to moderate cases of Covid-19.
Full trial data is not yet available from either company.
Meanwhile, the shares of Merck fell 8.5 per cent to $82.80; shares of vaccine makers also took a hit, with Moderna, Pfizer’s German partner BioNTech SE and Novavax all down nearly seven per cent.
