Pfizer’s experimental pill for coronavirus reduces the risk of hospitalization and death by 89% in recently infected high-risk patients, the pharmaceutical company said.
As broadcast by Bussiness Insider This development increases the likelihood that many COVID-19 pills will soon be available for patients, and the pharmaceutical company Merck recently announced the positive results for its coronavirus pill, molnupiravir. Treatments appear to play an important role in tackling the pandemic in addition to vaccination, as they will reduce the risk of serious disease for people infected with the virus.
“We now have the opportunity to stop living in fear,” Pfizer chief scientific officer Michael Dolsten told Insider.
“Fear will be broken, the enormous burden on hospitals will be reduced, and the risk of becoming infected and ending up in hospital or dying will become statistically smaller and almost non-existent,” he added. “It’s a huge medical breakthrough for humanity.”
Read the Pfizer announcement by clicking here.
Pfizer will produce more than 180,000 complete treatments by the end of 2021 and at least 50 million by 2022. A company spokesman said processes to increase production were under way and that those numbers would be updated in the coming weeks.
The study included 774 adults belonging to high-risk groups for severe coronavirus disease who had recently become infected. They were accidentally given the Pfizer pill or placebo. Less than 1% of those taking Pfizer were hospitalized and no one died. In the placebo group, about 7% were hospitalized and 10 patients lost their lives.
In conclusion, the risk of hospitalization or death was reduced by 89% for patients receiving the Pfizer pill three days after the onset of coronavirus symptoms. For those who took the drug within five days of the onset of symptoms, the benefits amounted to 85%, Dolsten said. In both cases, the drug offered 100% protection against death.
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