Pfizer has begun human trials of its oral pill in the US that could be administered immediately as patients begin to display symptoms of Coronavirus.
The safety and efficacy of the pill dubbed PF-07321332 is currently being tested.
Currently the pill is intended for people with early signs of infection. Later efficacy testing will also cover healthy people and will gauge the pill’s ability to protect the uninfected from infection.
Contents
How The Pill Works
Should the pill be approved for market launch, it will have to be ingested twice a day for 5 days. Results are said to be seen in a matter of weeks.
The pill is a protease inhibitor, protease being a viral enzyme to which the inhibitors connect with. This stops the virus from duplicating in the cell.
It is when the virus duplicates itself in a fast and wide ranging manner that patients’ sickness advances.
Encouraging Signs
Other viruses were combated with these inhibitors such as HIV and hepatitis C.
The oral drug named PF-07321332 has inhibited several other coronaviruses such as the original SARS virus and MERS.
The trials so far have been going smoothly with no reported problems.
For Treatment During Pandemic And Beyond
Mikael Dolsten, Pfizer’s Chief Scientific Officer, has said that as the current scenario of the pandemic evolves along with emergence of mutations, it will be necessary to have a variety of options for treatment even after the pandemic.
The pharma co is also parallely testing an intravenous medicine, the PF-07304814, to be administered to those hospitalised.
Importance And Use With Other Pills And Vaccine
Dolsten also said that the new drug could potentially be used along with a vaccine and provide thorough treatment against the virus.
This product could be an essential, given that easy-to-use treatment options are currently not in place for early-stage Covid patients.
After the present first phase, Pfizer could move on to a larger trial in phase 2 and 3 by the second quarter. This quick timeline would enable the drug co to apply for emergency use authorization by year end.
Merck & co. is also working on an oral medicine called molnupiravir and is one of the few drugmakers that has reached the later stages in human trials.
Theoretically Pfizer’s PF-07321332 could be administered combined with the antiviral molnupiravir .
All Indian Citizens Above 45 Years Can Get Covid-19 Vaccine From This Date, learn more.
Comments are closed, but trackbacks and pingbacks are open.