Pfizer COVID Pill Is 90% Effective In Final Trials
Pfizer has announced that their new COVID-19 therapeutic treatment shows 90% efficacy against hospitalization and death from the illness. Which is huge news in the fight against COVID.
The data shows that the pill is 90% effective against hospitalization and death in high-risk patients. Inside their trials, no one who took their pill died of COVID-19 after diagnosis and treatment.
Pfizer adds that their new therapeutic pill was also effective against the Omicron variant.
Pfizer Chief Scientific Officer Mikael Dolsten told CNBC in an interview:
“We’re talking about a staggering number of lives saved and hospitalizations prevented. And of course, if you deploy this quickly after infection, we are likely to reduce transmission dramatically"
The next step is to get approval from the United States Food and Drug Administration, which will hopefully come soon, but isn't for sure. The FDA has created delays for vaccines for COVID multiple times during the pandemic. If their track record of time remains the same, the Pfizer pill may face some delays.
How the FDA approves the Pfizer pill will also be of interest. The pill may not be approved for everyone right away. The regulatory board may only approve use in high-risk individuals, or even make approval those who are unvaccinated. If that is their choice, the pills will not be made available on a wide basis until much later.
The Pfizer results are welcome news with their pharmaceutical rival Merck suffering from setbacks with their oral therapeutic. Merck's pill was once a promising treatment, but is now falling back with increased data.