The results appear to surpass those seen with the oral drug manufactured by Merck & Co-MSD and approved – for the moment – only in the UK
Pfizer
stated that his pill experimental to cure Covid-19 ha reduced the risk of hospitalization or death by 89% in patients treated soon after the onset of symptoms.
The company said an independent board of experts who monitored the drug’s trial did advised to stop the study before the expected end because of the effectiveness demonstrated by the data in preventing the severe form of Covid-19.
The same had happened with the pill manufactured by Merck-MSD
. The recruitment of volunteers had been suspended due to the evident superiority of the drug over placebo: it was not considered ethically acceptable to deprive patients who are given the placebo of the benefit deriving from the drug under test.
Pfizer’s pill data is currently not available outside the company: the pharmaceutical group said it plans to submit treatment results as soon as possible directly to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for marketing authorization. market.
Treatment involves combining Pfizer’s pill with an older antiviral, ritonavir, and consists of three pills administered twice a day starting within three days of symptoms appearing.
It will be marketed under the name of Paxlovid.
The results also appear to surpass those seen with the oral drug manufactured by Merck & Co-MSD and approved – for the time being – only in the UK. In fact, the data had shown that Merck-MSD’s molnupiravir can halve the risk of developing severe disease.
Treatment could be available in the coming months, even if you think that at first the doses will be limited. Both drugs are considered very effective in people who have at least one risk factor for severe disease (for example, are over 60, have obesity or heart disease).
The United States government agreed with Pfizer to supply 1.7 million treatment doses, with an additional option of 3.3 million, the Nytimes writes, citing a senior administration official. The same amount they will also receive from Merck-MSD.
In Italy, on the other hand, little is known about potential agreements with the pharmaceutical companies producing oral anti-Covid drugs: during the press conference on the progress of the Italian vaccination campaign that was held on Friday 5 November, the coordinator of the Cts Franco Locatelli talked about the Merck-MSD pill saying that Aifa has already taken steps to acquire an adequate amount of the oral antiviral drug for Covid-19 molnupiravir.
Pfizer, in a statement, said it wanted a equal access to their medication
, if and when it will be approved by the regulatory bodies: as Merck had already stated, the anti-Covid pill will also be sold at a lower price to the poorest countries for Pfizer. High-income and upper-middle-income countries will pay more than lower-income countries – it says -. We have advance purchase agreements with multiple states and are in talks with many others.
November 5, 2021 (change November 5, 2021 | 18:27)
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