By Erika Edwards -
NBC News
Drug maker Pfizer said Friday that clinical trials of its experimental pill against COVID-19 have been so successful in preventing people from being hospitalized or dying from the virus that it stopped them prematurely with the hope that the general public can benefit.
The antiviral pill, which is combined with a low dose of an HIV drug called ritonavir, can reduce hospitalizations or deaths by up to 89% among high-risk patients, the drugmaker said in a press release.
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Albert Bourla, CEO of Pfizer, called the drug a potential "game changer."
"These data suggest that our oral antiviral candidate, if approved by regulatory authorities, has the potential to save patients' lives, reduce the severity of COVID-19 infections, and eliminate up to nine out of ten hospitalizations," he stated. in the statement.
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Pfizer only released its data in a press release, it
did not release the full clinical trial data.
Dr. John Sanders, chief of infectious diseases at Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center in North Carolina, said it will be important for outside experts to analyze and review the results.
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Still, Sanders called the preliminary information "remarkable."
"The availability of an oral antiviral that can reduce the risk of hospitalization and death in high-risk patients by 89% will have a major impact on how we treat COVID-19," he wrote in an email to NBC News.
Pfizer said it planned to ask the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to authorize the drug combination "as soon as possible."
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If finally licensed, it would be the second antiviral pill in use in the United States, which newly infected people could take at home to help prevent serious illness.
The news comes a day after the UK licensed the use of an antiviral drug developed by Ridgeback Biotherapeutics and Merck.
The pill, molnupiravir, will be marketed under the brand name Lagevrio and will be prescribed to people with mild or moderate cases of COVID-19, as well as people who have at least one risk factor for developing the most severe outcomes of the disease. .
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Merck asked the FDA in October to authorize molnupiravir.
The company previously reported that the pill cut COVID-19 hospitalizations and deaths in half among those in the early stages of the disease.
FDA advisers are scheduled to meet on November 30 to discuss the emergency authorization of the Merck pill.
