Pfizer announces Covid pill with 89 per cent efficacy

Pfizer announces Covid pill with 89 per cent efficacy

Pfizer, the US pharmaceutical giant that produces the Covid vaccine, announced today, Tuesday, December 14, the results of tests with its new Paxlovid pill. With this pill, the company aims to introduce the first-ever oral treatment in the US for patients with Covid-19.

In a statement, the company claims that in recent tests, their treatment reduced the risk of hospitalisation or death in adults in 89 per cent of cases. Data also apparently showed that the drug is a “potent inhibitor” against the omicron variant of coronavirus.

Paxlovid tablets have not yet been approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Albert Bourla, the Pfizer CEO, said in early December that he was hopeful they will get the green light before the end of the month.

In clinical studies carried out by the pharmaceutical company, the reduction in the risk of hospitalisation or death from Covid was 89 per cent when the pill was administered within three days of the appearance of the first symptoms. Practically the same result, of 88 per cent, was achieved when it was administered within five days of the appearance of symptoms.

This study was carried out among 2,246 adults residing in North and South America, Europe, Africa, and Asia (41 per cent of them in the USA). All had been diagnosed with Covid in the previous five days. They had also all displayed at least one characteristic or medical condition that made them patients at risk of developing a serious disease.

Of all the patients given Paxlovid, only 0.7 percent were hospitalised within 28 days of participating in the study, and none of them died. In contrast, among those patients who participated in the study but did not receive Paxlovid (the control group), 6.5 per cent were hospitalised or died, said the Pfizer statement, as reported by levante-emv.com.