Pfizer Begins Trial Of Oral Drug For Prevention Of Covid-19

The trial will test the safety and efficacy of the pill with ritonavir, another antiviral widely used to treat HIV.

Pfizer has begun trails of oral drug to prevent Covid (Representative Photo)

New Delhi: In the race to produce an oral antiviral drug for the prevention of Covid-19 infection, Pfizer Inc has begun its trials for the drug among those who have been exposed to the virus. Other drugmakers including US-based Merck & Co Inc and Swiss pharmaceutical Roche Holding AG are trying to develop an easy-to-administer antiviral pill for Covid-19, according to Reuters.

What are trials focused on?

The mid-to-late-stage trials will be focused on testing Pfizer's drug, PF-07321332, in up to 2,660 healthy adult participants aged 18 and older. Such participants will belong to the same household and shown confirmed symptomatic Covid-19 infection.

The trial will analyse the drug PF-07321332, designed to block the activity of a key enzyme needed for the coronavirus to multiply. The drug will be administered accompanied by a low dose of ritonavir, an older medication widely used in combination treatments for HIV infection.

One-third of patients in the trial will receive a placebo, while the remaining people will be given a dose of the drug twice a day for either five or 10 days. 

The drugmaker has also started another study of PF-07321332 in non-hospitalized, symptomatic adult patients. As of now, Gilead Sciences Inc's intravenous drug remdesivir is the only antiviral treatment approved for Covid-19 in the United States.

Merck and partner Ridgeback Biotherapeutics also launched a late-stage trial of their experimental drug molnupiravir for prevention of the Covid-19 infection. Molnupiravir is also being studied in a late-stage trial in non-hospitalized patients to see if it reduces the risk of hospitalization or death.