American pharmaceutical company Pfizer says it has started human safety testing of a new pill to treat the coronavirus that could be used at the first sign of illness.
In a statement, Pfizer’s Chief Scientific Officer, Mikael Dolsten said the oral antiviral clinical candidate “PF-07321332”, has demonstrated potent in vitro anti-viral activity against SARS-CoV-2, as well as activity against other coronaviruses.
Dolsten said dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic requires both prevention via vaccine and targeted treatment for those who contract the virus and given the continued global impact of COVID-19, it is needful to have access to therapeutic options.
This Phase 1 trial which being conducted in the United States, is a randomised, single and multiple dose-escalation study in healthy adults evaluating the safety, tolerability and pharmacokinetics of the pill.
Currently, the only FDA-approved antiviral treatment for COVID-19 is Gilead’s Remdesivir.
Pfizer, in collaboration with German company BioNTech, was the first pharmaceutical company to receive emergency use authorization from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for a COVID-19 vaccine.
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