The pharmaceutical company Pfizer wants to apply for emergency approval for a new corona pill.
There is talk of the “overwhelming effectiveness” of the drug.
New York - The US pharmaceutical company Pfizer wants to apply for emergency approval for its new corona pill *.
According to the manufacturer, the drug can reduce the risk of hospital admissions and deaths from Covid 19 infection by 89 percent.
The anti-corona pill called Paxlovid must be taken within three to five days of the first Covid-19 symptoms * in order to be fully effective.
Together with the US companies Merck and Ridgeback Therapeutics, Pfizer would be one of the first companies worldwide to receive approval for a corona drug.
Corona pill: study confirms "overwhelming effectiveness"
Pfizer's drug is a protease inhibitor and blocks an enzyme that prevents the virus from spreading in the human body.
The corona pill is taken with a low dose of ritonavir.
The additional drug extends the time paxlovid stays in the body and thus increases its effectiveness.
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Pfizer's new corona pill is called Paxlovid and is intended to reduce clinical risk by 90 percent.
(Archive image)
© Sven Simon / Imago Images
The drug was tested on 774 adults from risk groups who had recently contracted the coronavirus.
The subjects received either paxlovid or a placebo.
For five days, subjects took three tablets every 12 hours: two tablets with the Pfizer drug and one with a low dose of ritonavir.
Of the placebo group, around seven percent of the people had to be hospitalized - including ten courses that ended fatally.
Of the subjects who took paxlovid, less than one percent were hospitalized.
There were no deaths.
The results of the study were published in a press release.
Overall, there was a decrease in hospital admissions by 89 percent and a reliable protection against a fatal course.
Pfizer itself speaks of an "overwhelming effectiveness" and has now decided to discontinue further clinical studies.
Instead, the company wants to apply for an emergency approval of the drug.
In May, paxlovid was still in the clinical phase I study *.
Pfizer boss: drug should "break fear" and reduce hospital stress
Following the positive study results, Mikael Dolsten, Scientific Director at Pfizer, looks to the future with confidence. “Our ability to no longer live in fear is now within our grasp,” Dolsten said in an interview with Business Insider. In his opinion, the pill could play a key role in combating the pandemic *: “This should really break fear and reduce the enormous burden on hospitals. The risk of ending up in a hospital and dying after an infection is statistically becoming smaller and smaller and is almost non-existent. "
The Pfizer drug is doing very well against current variants of the coronavirus.
The widespread Delta variant * does not seem to be a problem for Paxlovid, but what about the coming mutations of Covid-19?
Experts fear that the virus could build up resistance to oral treatment over time.
However, Dolsten does not see this as a problem.
He does not expect that there will be "resistance problems" in the next five years.
Pfizer could produce more than 180,000 treatment units by the end of 2021.
At least 50 million more cans are planned for 2022.
Even if Paxlovid's emergency approval is still pending, Pfizer boss Dolsten is already speaking of a “great medical advance for mankind.” (Aa / dpa)
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List of rubric lists: © Sven Simon / Imago Images
