This would be a big step forward.
Pfizer Inc. said [recently] that its experimental antiviral pill for COVID-19 cut rates of hospitalization and death by nearly 90% in high-risk adults, as the drugmaker joined the race for an easy-to-use medication to treat the coronavirus.
Currently most COVID-19 treatments require an IV or injection. Competitor Merck’s COVID-19 pill is already under review at the Food and Drug Administration after showing strong initial results, and on Thursday the United Kingdom became the first country to OK it.
Pfizer said it will ask the FDA and international regulators to authorize its pill as soon as possible, after independent experts recommended halting the company’s study based on the strength of its results. Once Pfizer applies, the FDA could make a decision within weeks or months.
Since the beginning of the pandemic last year, researchers worldwide have been racing to find a pill to treat COVID-19 that can be taken at home to ease symptoms, speed recovery and keep people out of the hospital.
Having pills to treat early COVID-19 “would be a very important advance,” said Dr. John Mellors, chief of infectious diseases at the University of Pittsburgh, who was not involved in the Pfizer study.
“If someone developed symptoms and tested positive we could call in a prescription to the local pharmacy as we do for many, many infectious diseases,” he said.
[…]
Study participants were unvaccinated, with mild-to-moderate COVID-19, and were considered high risk for hospitalization due to health problems like obesity, diabetes or heart disease. Treatment began within three to five days of initial symptoms, and lasted for five days. Patients who received the drug earlier showed slightly better results, underscoring the need for speedy testing and treatment.
Pfizer reported few details on side effects but said rates of problems were similar between the groups at about 20%.
It’s much better to prevent COVID than to treat it, in the same way that it’s much better to prevent malware from getting on your computer than to clean up after it. As such, getting vaccinated is still far and away the best thing to do to mitigate the risk of COVID. But if I want to extend the cybersecurity analogy, you must have multiple layers of defense to truly have good security practices, and so having a safe and reliable treatment to COVID that can keep people out of the hospital is crucial. I look forward to both the Pfizer and Merck pills getting approved by the FDA.
16 days and counting………
This is very interesting. More effective than the vaccines. Due to the US hoggin’ up all the vaccines to get five boosters per year, there are more and more variants developing in the poor countries that can’t get the vaccines, due to the US using them all. The newest, most dangerous variant is now coming from South Africa. So the pill is much more effective than the vaccines.
Also of interest is that the pill is a protease inhibitor. What’s fascinating is that ivermectin was found in vitro to be a blocker of viral replicase and protease. Many antivirals currently available are also protease inhibitors.