Drug maker Pfizer said on Friday that its experimental antiviral pill reduces the risk of hospitalization and death by 90 percent. With this, the company has joined the race to introduce the first easy-to-use drug against Covid-19 in the US market.
Currently in the US, the drug is given through intravenous or injection in the treatment of Covid-19. Competing pharmaceutical company Merck’s Covid-19 pill is already under review at the FDA after showing strong initial results, and the UK on Thursday became the first country to approve it.
Pfizer said it would ask the FDA and international regulators to approve the pill as soon as possible, following independent experts’ recommendation to halt the company’s study based on the potential of its results. Once an application is made by Pfizer, FDA can make a decision within weeks or months.
Right to check COVID vaccination certificate given to petrol pumps in this city of Maharashtra
Researchers around the world are working to develop a treatment against Covid-19 that can be taken at home to reduce symptoms, speed up recovery and reduce the burden on hospitals and doctors.
Pfizer released the preliminary results of its study on 775 adults on Friday. Patients taking the company’s drug with another antiviral had an 89 percent reduction in the combined rate of hospitalization or death after one month, compared with patients taking a dummy pill.
Less than one percent of patients taking the drug required hospitalization and none died. Seven percent were hospitalized and seven deaths occurred in the comparison group.
Pfizer’s chief scientific officer, Dr. Mikel Dolston, said in an interview, “We were hoping we had something extraordinary, but it’s rare that you see big drugs with almost 90 percent effectiveness and 100 percent safety for death. come with.”
Study participants with mild to moderate Covid-19 were not vaccinated and were considered at higher risk for hospitalization due to health problems such as obesity, diabetes or heart disease. Treatment began three to five days after the initial symptoms and lasted five days.
Pfizer provided some detail on “side effects” but said the rate of problems was about the same between 20 percent of the groups.
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