What You Need to Know About a Potential “COVID Pill”
But that may change in the future. Both Pfizer and Merck are working on a so-called “COVID pill” that could help treat people with the virus whoat risk of developing severe illness. Meaning, if these medications work out, there could eventually be a drug available that you could take when you have COVID-19 that could work likedoes on the flu, says William Schaffner, M.D., an infectious disease specialist and professor at the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine.
on Sept. 1 that the medication has started phase 2/3 clinical trials and has just been given to its first patient. PF-07321332 is being given alongside a low dose of ritonavir, a drug that’s expected to help slow the breakdown of PF-07321332 so that it can remain in the body for longer periods of time at higher concentrations.
Ideally, a drug like this will help your body fight COVID. “The hope is that the Pfizer drug and ritonivir together will sufficiently inhibit the SARS-CoV-2 protease to slow down the virus enough that [the] host’s immune defenses will overcome and eliminate it,” explains Martin J. Blaser, M.D., director of the Center for Advanced Biotechnology and Medicine at Rutgers University.
There isn’t currently an easy-to-use medication to treat COVID-19 infections, especially in people who aren’t at risk for severe complications from COVID-19. “The aim is to make an oral antiviral for COVID that would be akin to Tamiflu and reduce symptoms, reduce complications, and reduce contagiousness,” says infectious disease expert Amesh A. Adalja, M.D., a senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security.“might work to shorten the course and severity of disease,” Alan says.
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