Pfizer CEO Says At-Home COVID-19 Treatment Could Be Ready by End of Year

Pfizer’s investigational antiviral for treating COVID-19 at home at the first onset of symptoms could become available by the end of this year, said the company’s CEO Albert Bourla.

Being able to take a pill at home for SARS-CoV-2 would be a “game changer,” Bourla said in a TV interview. When asked about a reasonable timeframe for the therapeutic to make it through phase 3 testing and become available, he said, “If all goes well ... I hope by the end of the year.”

The novel drug candidate, PF-07321332, is the first orally administered COVID-19-specific investigational protease inhibitor to be evaluated in clinical studies, according to Pfizer, which began an early-stage trial in March. The drug works by inhibiting an enzyme that the virus requires in order to replicate itself in cells.