Pfizer's Covid pill 89 percent effective at keeping people out of hospital or dying, company says

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Additional data from Pfizer's clinical trial of its oral Covid-19 antiviral drug confirm the treatment's high level of effectiveness, the company says.

Experts say an antiviral pill for Covid would have a major impact on the pandemic by making treatment available at home. Current treatments are available only by injection or IV.

A full course of Pfizer's treatment is three pills taken twice daily for five days. Two of the pills are an experimental antiviral called nirmatrelvir; the third pill is an existing HIV drug called ritonavir.. Paxlovid was shown to work best when it was given within three days of the onset of symptoms, the company said.

Side effects, which were similar in people who received Paxlovid or the placebo, were mostly mild, the news release said. The company did not detail them.Pfizer also released interim findings from a second clinical trial that looked at the treatment's effectiveness in low-risk unvaccinated people, as well as in vaccinated people with one or more risk factors for severe illness.

Pfizer said lab studies suggest that the treatment is effective against the new omicron variant of the virus, although more research is needed for confirmation.antiviral from the drugmaker MerckMerck's treatment was found to be 30 percent effective at preventing hospitalization or death from Covid in high-risk patients. Advisory committee members expressed concerns about the safety of the drug, including potential risks to pregnant women and their fetuses.

 

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Pfizer & them pills!

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