Pfizer is testing a pill that could be the first oral COVID treatment, company says
The same company behind America’s first coronavirus vaccine is now working on what could be the nation’s first oral treatment against COVID-19 if clinical trials prove the antiviral is safe and effective.
Use of the pill won’t require that people with COVID-19 are hospitalized or in critical care. Instead, it could be prescribed at the first sign of infection, biopharmaceutical company Pfizer announced Tuesday.
It’s a tool that could compliment vaccination and other treatment measures in the race to end the pandemic, especially as coronavirus variants capable of infecting people more quickly, and escaping vaccines’ defenses to some degree, continue to emerge around the world.
“Tackling the COVID-19 pandemic requires both prevention via vaccine and targeted treatment for those who contract the virus,” Dr. Mikael Dolsten, chief scientific officer and president of research at Pfizer, said in a statement. “Given the way that SARS-CoV-2 is mutating and the continued global impact of COVID-19, it appears likely that it will be critical to have access to therapeutic options both now and beyond the pandemic.”
The early stage trial is a combined three-part study including about 60 adults between 18 and 60 years old in the U.S., a Pfizer spokesperson told McClatchy News in an email. The company is now progressing to the second part of the study, which will test multiple doses of the antiviral, after the first part — single doses — showed the pill decreased coronavirus activity in a lab.
“The various parts are designed to help identify the minimum and maximum doses and dosing intervals that are deemed to be well tolerated along with its effects on the body (how it is absorbed, metabolized and excreted, for example),” the spokesperson told McClatchy. “The outcome of this study will determine what dose(s) should be evaluated in larger clinical studies.”
The pill works by preventing the coronavirus from replicating in cells. The method it uses to attack the novel coronavirus is also effective at treating other viruses, such as HIV and hepatitis C, according to the company.
The early stage study has shown the antiviral works against other coronaviruses as well, Pfizer said, “suggesting potential for use in the treatment of COVID-19 as well as potential use to address future coronavirus threats.”
Another potential oral COVID-19 treatment developed by Miami-based company Ridgeback Biotherapeutics and Merck is also in the works. Early study results showed that the pill, called molnupiravir, cleared non-hospitalized coronavirus patients who had symptoms of infection faster than in patients who received a placebo.
The only COVID-19 treatment that has been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is remdesivir, a drug that’s delivered through the veins and limited to hospitalized COVID-19 patients ages 12 and up.
Pfizer will share its early stage study results in a COVID-19 session of the Spring American Chemical Society meeting on April 6.
This story was originally published March 25, 2021 at 3:30 PM with the headline "Pfizer is testing a pill that could be the first oral COVID treatment, company says."
