Pfizer announced on Friday that the clinical tests conducted for the first pill of its kind that it produced to treat Covid-19 patients show that it is highly effective, which US President Joe Biden considered good news that would reduce the risk of hospitalization or death.
And the drug - which was called "Paxlovid" - succeeded by 89% in reducing the risk of transferring patients to hospitals or the death of many adults with Covid-19 who are most at risk of severe illness.
This result is likely to change the way to treat the disease caused by the Corona virus, and change the course of the pandemic, while the “Bloomberg” news agency said that Pfizer’s stock jumped yesterday, Friday.
The company intends to submit the results of its data "as soon as possible" to the US Food and Drug Administration in order to obtain a license.
It is the second treatment of this type that gives positive results, after the drug developed by Merck and licensed on Thursday in the first country, Britain.
Pfizer's preliminary results based on clinical trials (Reuters)
Experiences and results
Pfizer said - in a statement on Friday - that it is no longer accepting new patients in its clinical trials of the treatment "due to its superior efficacy", and plans to submit the results to regulatory authorities in the United States for emergency authorization, as soon as possible.
Antiviral drugs work by reducing the ability of the virus to reproduce, thus slowing the disease, and these treatments are a complement to vaccines to protect against Covid-19.
The results mean that there are now two promising drug candidates for treating early-stage COVID-19 patients.
Merck & Co and its biopharmaceutical partner, Ridgeback Biotherapeutics, submitted their experimental drug to regulators after a study showed that it reduced the risk of serious illness or death by nearly half in patients with Covid-19 who had contracted the disease. Light to medium.
Biden believes that Pfizer pills may reduce the risk of hospitalization (European)
Vaccines and stocks
Pfizer shares rose by 13% in the pre-American trading period, while Merck shares fell by 9.3%.
Some vaccine companies incurred losses, as the American "Moderna" stock fell by 11% and the German partner "BioNTech" by 9.4% in German trading.
For his part, US President Joe Biden confirmed that there is a new drug of its kind for Corona that may be approved soon, and he explained - during a speech he delivered on the occasion of the monthly report on unemployment issued by the Ministry of Labor - that the drug is a pill developed by Pfizer and may reduce the risk of hospitalization or death. .
In his speech, he said: “Another good news: Last night I received promising news about another powerful and potential treatment for the Corona virus, a pill developed by Pfizer, which may significantly reduce the risk of hospitalization or death when taken shortly after infection. ".
He continued, "If the Food and Drug Administration authorizes the new drug, we may soon have pills that treat those who have been infected," noting that the United States has millions of doses of Pfizer's experimental antiviral tablets to treat Corona, if it turns out to be an effective treatment.