Pfizer COVID 19 Pill is 89% Effective

• Pfizer has developed a COVID 19 pill to reduce the risk of hospitalization and death in vulnerable people

• The company has confirmed that the pill is 89% effective, according to clinical trial

• The medicine called Paxlovid is intended to be used among people after the symptoms of the disease have developed

US company Pfizer has developed a pill to treat COVID 19 and cut the risks of death and hospitalization in vulnerable people.

According to Pfizer, clinical trials have shown that the drug- Paxlovid is 89% effective at reducing the risk of people at high risk.

Pfizer’s announcement comes a day after the United Kingdom approved the use of a similar COVID 19 pill that was developed by Merck Sharp and Dohme (MSD).

The company confirms that trials have been halted after the results were overwhelmingly positive.

In addition to Merck Sharp and Dohme being offered, the United Kingdom has now ordered 250,000 of the new COVID 19 pill.

Health and Social Care Secretary Sajid Javid termed the results of the trials incredible and disclosed that the UK will now test its safety and effectiveness.

Javid said:

“If approved, this could be another significant weapon in our armoury to fight the virus alongside our vaccines and other treatments,”

Read also: Nigeria Urged to Approve China’s Vaccine

The new Pfizer drug is a protease inhibitor, that has been designed to block the enzyme required by the virus for multiplying.

The pill can be taken in combination with another antiviral pill called ritonavir to make it last longer in the body.

The combination of this treatment works slightly differently to the Merck pill which creates errors directly unto the genetic code of the virus.

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