Pfizer’s COVID-19 Antiviral Slashed Risk of Hospitalization and Death

Pfizer’s investigational antiviral, Paxlovid (07321332 plus ritonavir), cut the risk of COVID-19- associated hospitalizations and death by 89 percent compared to placebo in an interim analysis of a phase 2/3 study, the company announced.

So great was the impact that an independent Data Safety Monitoring Board stopped the study, “due to the overwhelming efficacy,” the company said. Pfizer will now ask the FDA to grant Paxlovid an Emergency Use Authorization “as soon as possible,” according to Pfizer.

Pfizer’s oral antiviral for COVID-19 is likely to go head-to-head against Merck’s and Ridgeback Biotherapeutics’ oral COVID-19 medication, which got its first green light from a regulatory body last week when the UK approved it, making it the first oral antiviral medicine authorized for the treatment of COVID-19. The companies still await authorization from the FDA, which could come early next month.

The UK’s Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency has authorized molnupiravir for the treatment of mild-to-moderate COVID-19 in adults who have at least one risk factor for developing severe illness.