Pfizer CEO says oral drug to treat coronavirus could be ready by end of 2021
Pfizer vaccine
Pfizer CEO has said that an oral drug to treat novel coronavirus could be ready by the end of the year.
Pfizer-BioNTech's coronavirus vaccine has been used in various European countries and the United States and has a very high efficacy as compared to its competitors.
Albert Bourla, Pfizer's CEO in an interview with CNBC on Tuesday said that the pharma company is developing antiviral treatments and is optimistic about their progress.
"If all goes well, and we implement the same speed that we are, and if regulators do the same, and they are, I hope that by the end of the year," the CEO said referring to the oral drug to treat COVID-19.
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The pharma giant is working on an oral as well as an injectable antiviral.
Also read | BioNTech founder 'confident' its Covid vaccine willl work against strain first found in India
This class of drugs, called protease inhibitors are widely used for HIV, hepatitis C treatment.
Early-stage trials of the oral drug started in March, and Bourla said that there is particular attention being paid to that treatment in which, unlike injectables, a hospital environment would not be required.
"You could get it at home, and that could be a game-changer," Boula said.
Meanwhile, Ugur Sahin co-founder of BioNTech, Pfizer's coronavirus vaccine ally, on Wednesday expressed confidence that their vaccine would work well against the variant first detected in India.