Pfizer announced on Friday that its pill to treat Covid-19 had been found in a key clinical trial to be highly effective at preventing severe illness among at-risk people who received the drug soon after they exhibited symptoms, making it the second antiviral pill to demonstrate efficacy against Covid.
The drug appears to be more effective than a similar offering from Merck, which is awaiting federal authorization. Pfizer’s pill, which will be sold under the brand name Paxlovid, cut the risk of hospitalization or death by 89 percent when given within three days after the start of symptoms.
Pfizer said an independent board of experts monitoring its clinical trial recommended that the study be stopped early because the drug’s benefit to patients had proved so convincing. The company said it planned to submit the data as soon as possible to the Food and Drug Administration to seek authorization for the pill to be used in the United States.
“The results are really beyond our wildest dreams,” said Annaliesa Anderson, a Pfizer executive who led the drug’s development. She expressed hope that Paxlovid “can have a big impact on helping all our lives go back to normal again and seeing the end of the pandemic.”
........Pfizer said it expects to be able to produce enough pills for more than 180,000 people by the end of this year and for more than 21 million people in the first half of next year. Merck, too, has said it plans to ramp up production over the next year.
The government expects to pay about $700 per treatment course for both drugs, the official said.
The treatment consists of 30 pills given over five days. That includes 10 pills of ritonavir, an old H.I.V. drug, which helps Pfizer’s drug remain active in the body longer.
