Pfizer pill ‘cuts virus death risk by 90 per cent’

A TABLET made by Pfizer slashes the risk of serious disease or death from Covid by almost 90 per cent, the pharmaceutical giant announced yesterday.

It is the first pill developed with the explicit purpose of treating Covid and the announcement from Pfizer comes just one day after another Covid antiviral – Molnupiravir, which is made by rival Merck, Sharp and Dohme (MSD) – became the first at-home treatment to be authorised for use in the UK. The Merck pill was first designed to treat flu and is 50 per cent effective at preventing severe disease and death from Covid. The UK has ordered 250,000 doses of the Pfizer pill, and 480,000 courses of Molnupiravir.

Pfizer is well known for its highly effective vaccine, which was the first mrnabased jab to be used en masse, but its tablet, called Paxlovid, has the potential to be just as crucial in the fight against the pandemic.

More than 700 people who were infected with Covid and at risk of developing severe disease had a course of treatment within three days of symptoms developing, but only half got the drug, with the rest getting a placebo.

People took three pills twice a day for five days and just 0.8 per cent of those who received Paxlovid (three patients) were hospitalised. None of these patients died.

However, 7 per cent of people in the placebo group went to hospital or died, with 27 admissions and seven subsequent deaths.

“Incredible results from Pfizer showing their antiviral medicine cuts the risk of hospitalisation or death from Covid-19 by almost 90 per cent,” said the Health Secretary, Sajid Javid. “We have procured 250,000 doses of this promising treatment on behalf of the whole UK and our independent medicines regulator, the MHRA, will now assess its safety, quality and effectiveness.”

The drug is a protease inhibitor, which means it blocks an enzyme that the coronavirus needs to replicate and spread.

Paxlovid is taken with a low dose of Ritonavir, an existing HIV antiretroviral, so it can remain in the body long enough for it to work.

Pfizer’s chief executive Albert Bourla said: “Today’s news is a real game-changer in the global efforts to halt the devastation of this pandemic.”