Pill to treat Covid also from Pfizer: '89% effective against hospitalisation or death'
Pill to treat Covid from Pfizer, CEO Albert Bourla: “Breakthrough in stopping pandemic devastation”
After Britain’s approval of Merck’s anti-Covid drug, Pfizer unveils results of its Coronavirus pill
The company announced today that its new oral antiviral candidate against Covid-19, Paxlovid, significantly reduces the risk of hospitalisation or death by up to 89%.
The data emerged from a randomised, double-blind study of 1,219 adult, non-hospitalised patients with Covid-19 at high risk of progressing to a severe disease.
Patients came from clinical trial centres throughout North and South America, Europe, Africa and Asia, with 45% from the US.
In detail, the analysis showed an 89% reduction in the risk of hospitalisation or death from any cause related to Covid-19 compared to placebo in patients treated within three days of symptom onset (primary endpoint).
0.8% of patients who received Pfizer’s drug were hospitalised up to day 28 after randomisation (3/389 hospitalised with no deaths), compared to 7.0% of patients who received placebo and were hospitalised or died (27/385 hospitalised with 7 subsequent deaths).
Pfizer’s anti-Covid pill: similar reductions in Covid-19-related hospitalisation or death were observed in patients treated within five days of symptom onset
0% of patients who received Paxlovid were hospitalised up to day 28 after randomisation (6/607 hospitalised, no deaths), compared to 6.7% of patients who received a placebo (41/612 hospitalised with 10 subsequent deaths), with high statistical significance.
In the overall study population up to day 28, no deaths were reported in patients receiving Paxlovid compared to 10 (1.6%) deaths in patients receiving placebo.
Pfizer’s president and chief executive officer, Albert Bourla, said, “Today’s news is a real turning point in global efforts to stop the devastation of this pandemic.
These data suggest that our oral antiviral candidate, if approved or cleared by regulators, has the potential to save patients’ lives, reduce the severity of Covid-19 infections and eliminate up to nine out of ten hospitalizations,” he concluded.
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