Pfizer's early clinical trial of oral antiviral drug for coronavirus underway, says report

American drugmaker Pfizer Inc. that is already rolling out vaccines for coronavirus, on Tuesday announced that it has started early-stage clinical trials of an "investigational, oral antiviral drug for Covid-19." According to reports in the US media, the company discovered that this new candidate has shown "potent in vitro antiviral activity" against the virus that causes Covid-19, as well as the activity against coronaviruses. This has motivated the scientists and doctors at Pfizer to study the 'under testing oral drug' that it says can address future pandemics.
 
Pfizer's chief scientific officer Mikael Dolsten said "Prevention using vaccines and targeted treatment for those who contract Covid-19, both are necessary to tackle the ongoing pandemic. Looking at the mutating SARS Cov-2 its continued global impact, it appears likely that it will be critical to have access to therapeutic options both now and beyond the coronavirus pandemic."

The candidate is a class of protease inhibitor: Pfizer

The oral drug that is under the early testing stage is a class of protease inhibitors that have long been used to treat AIDS and hepatitis C. The drugs are treated to block a critical enzyme, a protease, that the virus needs to replicate, according to the reports in US media. Pfizer's Dolsten hinted that the drug candidate can be prescribed when a person shows initial signs of infection without the infected having to be hospitalised or shifted to critical care units.
 
Vaccine makers across the world have beefed up their efforts to develop the drug that is the one-shot solution for the coronavirus. However, the number of new variants that have emerged in the last six months from Brazil, the UK, and South Africa are major concerns to populations across the globe. The number of Covid-19 positives across the world to date stands at 124,803,116 with 100,831,021 recoveries and 2,746,273 deaths.
 
Moreover, 458 million doses of coronavirus vaccines have been administered worldwide as of March 24, which is six doses for every 100 people. US President Joe Biden earlier this year had visited Pfizer's plant in Michigan's Kalamazoo, where he was assured by the CEO of Pfizer that the US drugmaker would increase the pace of developing vaccines while the supply of shots will also be beefed up.