Pfizer: Final trial results show anti-COVID pill works

Pfizer said Tuesday greeting that last proceedings studies inactive amusement its experimental COVID-19 pill importantly reduced the hazard of hospitalization oregon decease linked to the microorganism by 89%.

The institution besides said Tuesday successful its press release that a laboratory trial indicated that the cause should beryllium effectual against omicron. The newly-discovered COVID-19 variant strain has aesculapian experts acrophobic astir a imaginable surge successful cases.

"This quality provides further corroboration that our oral antiviral candidate, if authorized oregon approved, could person a meaningful interaction connected the lives of many, arsenic the information further enactment the efficacy of PAXLOVID successful reducing hospitalization and decease and amusement a important alteration successful viral load. This underscores the attraction candidate's imaginable to prevention the lives of patients astir the world," Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla said. "Emerging variants of concern, similar omicron, person exacerbated the request for accessible attraction options for those who declaration the virus, and we are assured that, if authorized oregon approved, this imaginable attraction could beryllium a captious instrumentality to assistance quell the pandemic."

The pill, which Pfizer calls Paxlovid, is taken doubly a time for 5 days upon a COVID-19 diagnosis. Pfizer says conscionable the last results amusement that conscionable 0.7% of the patients who received the pill successful the double-blind proceedings were hospitalized. By comparison, 6.5% of patients who received a placebo were hospitalized oregon died of the virus.

Pfizer added that "relative hazard simplification was 94% successful patients 65 years of property oregon older," and that conscionable 1.1% of radical successful that property radical that received the pill were either hospitalized oregon were killed by the virus.

The last results released connected Tuesday were mostly accordant with the archetypal late-stage proceedings results Pfizer released successful November.

A akin pill from different drugmaker, Merck, is besides presently nether FDA review. Should they beryllium approved, the pills made by Pfizer and Merck would beryllium the archetypal oral attraction for COVID-19 — each therapies presently authorized successful the U.S. necessitate an IV oregon injection.

Both Pfizer and Merck person already announced a concern with the UN that volition let drugmakers worldwide to transcript the formulas for their anti-COVID-19 pills successful the hopes of expanding entree to the cause successful lower- and middle-income countries.