Several pharmaceutical companies are racing to create an antiviral pill that people can take daily to offset the risk of COVID-19.
Of these companies, Pfizer — because, of course, it’s Pfizer — is at the front of the heap, saying that a daily pill will prevent the spread of COVID-19 before the virus has a chance to replicate.
“With the continued impact of COVID-19 around the world, we believe that tackling the virus will require effective treatments for people who contract, or have been exposed to, the virus, complementing the impact that vaccines have had in helping quell infections.,” said Pfizer CSO Mikael Dolsten.
“If successful, we believe this therapy could help stop the virus early – before it has had a chance to replicate extensively – potentially preventing symptomatic disease in those who have been exposed and inhibiting the onset of infection in others.”
“Given the continued emergence and evolution of SARS-CoV-2 variants and their immense impact, we continue to work diligently to develop and study new ways that our investigational oral antiviral candidate could potentially lower the impact of COVID-19, not only on patients’ lives, but also the lives of their families and household members,” concluded Dolsten.
However, Pfizer isn’t the only company working on a daily pill to prevent COVID-19. Indeed, several smaller companies are racing to produce the ‘miracle drug’ which will end the pandemic where the vaccine failed.
Of these companies, Pfizer’s biggest competition is Merck & Co. and Ridgeback Biotherapeutics, which is working on a pill called molnupiravir.
While these experimental drugs have not been approved, both are in testing, and both companies hope to see their drugs approved for use in the coming months — not years.
Right now, the company plans to enroll 2,600 people in a late-stage study to see the effects of the drug over 5 to 10 days.
Dr. Daniel Griffin, an immunologist at Columbia University, says that entire households could take the pills if anyone in the home encounters someone who had COVID or there is confirmation that someone contracted the disease.
“When we get there, that’s the idea,” said Griffin. “To have this all around the country, so that people get it the same day they get diagnosed.”
Virologist Timothy Sheehan is also hopeful, saying “Oral antivirals have the potential to not only curtail the duration of one’s covid-19 syndrome, but also have the potential to limit transmission to people in your household if you are sick.”
Griffin added that if the drugs are approved, the next step will be creating a massive distribution system to deliver the pills to hospitals and drug stores, not dissimilar to how testing kits and vaccines were rolled out last year.
