Pharmaceutical giant Pfizer has started early-stage clinical trials of an experimental oral antiviral drug to treat COVID-19.
The company announced as of Tuesday, the phase one drug test, PF-07321332, is currently taking place in the US
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The treatment is a potent protease inhibitor, the same type of technology used to treat HIV and hepatitis C. Protease inhibitors bind to a viral enzyme and prevent the virus from replicating in the cell.
Pfizer said that preclinical studies showed that the oral antiviral “demonstrated potent antiviral activity in vitro against SARS-CoV-2, as well as activity against other coronaviruses”. This means that treatment can be useful against future threats from coronavirus.
“Facing the COVID-19 pandemic requires vaccine prevention and targeted treatment for those who contract the virus. Given the way SARS-CoV-2 is changing and the continued global impact of COVID-19, it seems likely that it will be critical to have access to therapeutic options now and after the pandemic, ”Mikeal Dolsten, chief scientific officer at Pfizer, said in a demonstration.
Dolsten said oral therapy can be prescribed to a patient at the first sign of infection, without requiring him to be hospitalized or in intensive care.
Pfizer is also studying intravenous antiviral therapy to treat COVID-19 that is being used in a clinical trial involving hospitalized patients.
“Together, the two have the potential to create an end-to-end treatment paradigm that complements vaccination,” said Dolsten.
Pfizer, in collaboration with the German company BioNTech, was the first pharmaceutical company to receive emergency use authorization from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for a COVID-19 vaccine.
Currently, the only FDA-approved antiviral treatment for COVID-19 is Gilead’s Remdesivir therapy.
Pfizer says it will share pre-clinical data about its experimental pill on April 6.
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