Pfizer announced Monday that it had started a large-scale clinical trial for its anti-Covid pill, to test its ability to preventively reduce the risk of infection in those around a person who has contracted the disease.

Several companies, including Merck and Roche, are working on drugs of this type, called antivirals.

They work by preventing the virus from replicating itself.

Their application can be twofold: both to allow people already suffering from the disease not to suffer from serious symptoms, but also to those who have been in close contact not to develop it.

New hope

If the results are conclusive, “we believe this treatment could help stop the virus very early, before it has a chance to replicate widely, potentially preventing symptomatic cases of the disease in those who have been exposed and slowing down the onset of infection in others, ”said Mikael Dolsten, chief scientist at Pfizer, in a statement.

This approach is "complementary" to anti-Covid vaccines, he added.

This treatment, named PF-07321332, was designed as a pill to be swallowed simply with a glass of water.

The phase 2/3 clinical trial announced on Monday will have more than 2,600 participants aged 18 or older.

Some will take the treatment, given twice a day for 5 to 10 days, and others a placebo.

The drug has already been tested on a few dozen people to demonstrate that it is not dangerous for health.

Two other clinical trials have also been underway since this summer on thousands of participants to assess the effectiveness of the product on people already suffering from Covid-19, one for those at high risk of developing a severe case of disease, the other for low risk.

For all people who are already infected, this medicine will be most effective in the first days of infection, before the virus has already widely replicated.

Pfizer's treatment, unlike its competitors, was not re-adapted from another drug but developed specifically against SARS-CoV-2.

However, it will be given in combination with a "low dose" of the drug ritonavir, used against the AIDS virus.

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