Covid-19 pill: in the USA a program for the development of a drug to be taken orally is born when the first symptoms appear
Vaccination is the main tool for the fight against Covid-19 and in fact it is proving particularly useful for containing the disease, even against the much more contagious Delta variant. Now that the vaccine is now widespread, researchers are studying new solutions to fight the Coronavirus and we are talking about the so-called Covid-19 pill. It is a drug to be taken orally as soon as the first symptoms appear and which should stop the development of the disease in the bud.
Covid-19 pill: the launch could take place at the end of the year
In June, the US Department of Health and Human Services Department (HSS) unveiled a more than $ 3 billion program for the development of the Covid-19 pill called Antiviral Program for Pandemics. The research is still in its infancy, however, but at best the first drugs could be launched on the market at the end of 2021. “It could help us with this pandemic, and provide us with a first line of defense against the next one,” says Mark Namchuk of Harvard. Medical School in an article in the New York Times.
Covid-19: researchers study the effects of drugs already on the market
Currently the only medicine approved by the FDA, the government body that regulates the pharmaceutical sector, is remdesivir. The latter was born as a cure against Ebola but has also proved useful against Covid-19. However, remdesivir is only used on patients who are already hospitalized and is only taken intravenously.
Scientists in addition to the Covid-19 pill are also focusing on other drugs designed for other diseases but which could potentially bring benefits to Coronavirus patients. There is talk of molnupiravir, which initially did not lead to great results but today seems useful for patients in the early stages of the disease, and the AT-527 used against hepatitis C. Also Pfizer, a company that has developed one of the most used all over the world, is working on a Covid-19 pill starting from a molecule for the treatment of SARS developed in the early 2000s.