Pfizer’s COVID-19 Pill Could Be Available This Year: Report

A COVID-19 pill being developed by Pfizer could be ready to enter the market this year if trials are successful, according to a report.

"We have designed PF-07321332 as a potential oral therapy that could be prescribed at the first sign of infection, without requiring that patients are hospitalized or in critical care," Mikael Dolsten, who leads Pfizer's worldwide research, development, and medical division, said as reported by New York Post.

Trials are already ongoing with volunteers between ages 18 and 60 in the U.S. and Brussels. Classed as a "protease inhibitor," the PF-07321332 has been formulated to attack the "spine" of the SARS-Cov-2 virus and stop it replicating in the noses, throats, and lungs.

Dr. Penny Ward, a visiting professor in pharmaceutical medicine at King's College London, told the Telegraph that if Pfizer already moved to this stage, "they will be quietly optimistic."

Pfizer's COVID-19 Pill

The antiviral drug could be given to stop the illness from getting severe in people who have shown symptoms of COVID-19.

Vaccines are not 100 percent effective, and some people could not have them or do not benefit as much. According to Daily Mail, COVID-19 pills could prevent severe illness in people for whom vaccines do not work as well.

The report said that pills could be effective as well in case an immune-resistant new variant emerges. Pfizer's first-phase trial for the COVID-19 pill is expected to come to an end on May 25.

If the pill turns out to be effective and safe after this, larger trials with more people will be done to prove that it really does stop COVID-19.

'It would be a huge step forward if antiviral drugs work... Normal services can function, and you don't have to have a lockdown," Professor Kevin Blyth, a University of Glasgow scientist, said in the report.

Blyth is currently working on a trial of the antiviral drug favipiravir that could be given after someone caught the coronavirus.

Pfizer has not found any evidence of side effects in its animal trials and now eyeing to see how it affects humans through a small test on healthy people.

If the human trials' results are promising, the Telegraph reported that the COVID-19 pill could be available later this year.

Together with its partner BioNTech, Pfizer has already developed a COVID-19 vaccine reported to be more than 95 percent effective.

U.S. to Share 60 Million COVID-19 Vaccines

Meanwhile, the U.S. is set to release 60 million doses of AstraZeneca to other countries over the next several months, the White House said.

However, the White House did not particularly say which countries would receive the vaccine. But it noted that around 10 million doses are ready to ship once regulatory clearance from Food and Drug Administration has been granted. The U.S. government had been holding a stockpile of million doses of AstraZeneca.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki said the U.S. does not need to use AstraZeneca in the fight against COVID in the next few months.

The Biden administration has been under pressure to assist other countries in the fight against the pandemic, specifically India, NPR reported.

On Sunday, the White House announced that it would send India therapeutics, testing supplies, and equipment to help generate and transport more oxygen. It would also hand out vaccine materials to India to manufacture more vaccine doses in the country.

Former FDA head Dr. Scott Gottlieb said the country needs to learn more aggressively forward and look at ways to relax some of the restrictions that do not make sense anymore. Gottlieb noted that officials should look at restrictions on outdoor activities, NY Post reported.

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