Pfizer Says Its Covid Antiviral Pill Is 89% Effective for High-Risk Patients

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Medical experts are calling the pill a game-changer in the fight against Covid-19.

Pfizer has announced that a new drug to combat coronavirus in high-risk cases in 89% effective, BBC reported.

The company has halted clinical trials because of how positive and effective the pill is, according to NBC News.

The drug known as Paxlovid is intended after coronavirus symptoms develop in people that are considered high-risk, BBC reported.

"These data suggest that our oral antiviral candidate, if approved or authorized by regulatory authorities, has the potential to save patients' lives, reduce the severity of COVID-19 infections, and eliminate up to nine out of ten hospitalizations," Pfizer CEO and chairman Albert Bourla said in a statement obtained by NPR.

Pfizer said that its antiviral pill was most effective within the first three days of symptoms, NBC News reported. Pfizer reported that the side effects were mild to moderate, and comparable to those who got the placebo, NBC News said.

The company will now send results of the clinical trials to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, to seek emergency use authorization, NPR reported.

The UK’s Health and Social Care Secretary Sajid Javid called the results "incredible,” when he poke to BBC. The drug has to go for approval in Great Britain as well.

"If approved, this could be another significant weapon in our armory to fight the virus alongside our vaccines and other treatments," he said.

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