Pfizer is the latest company to come out with a pill to treat COVID-19.
The pharmaceutical giant says if it's taken within three days of developing symptoms, a course of pills can slash the risk of winding up in the hospital or dying by 89%. That's after regulators in the UK this week approved a pill developed jointly by Merck and a Miami-based biotherapeutics company. Pfizer released the results in a news release and did not provide scientists to discuss the data ahead of release. The data has not been peer reviewed or published. The company says it will share more specifics in a peer-reviewed paper and in its submission to the US Food and Drug Administration, according to CNN.
"Similar reductions in COVID-19-related hospitalization or death were observed in patients treated within five days of symptom onset; 1% of patients who received PF-07321332 (with) ritonavir were hospitalized through Day 28 following randomization (6/607 hospitalized, with no deaths), compared to 6.7% of patients who received a placebo," the company said.