TEMPO.CO, Jakarta – Pfizer and Merck & Co announced trials of oral antiviral drugs for COVID-19 on Wednesday, September 1, 2021. The trials come as manufacturers compete to develop easy-to-use drugs to treat COVID-19.
Pfizer mengatakan uji coba tahap pertengahan hingga akhir akan diikuti 1.140 orang dewasa yang tidak dirawat di rumah sakit. Relawan adalah pasien yang didiagnosis terinfeksi virus corona namun tidak berisiko sakit parah. Pasien dalam uji coba akan diberikan pil Pfizer, yang dikenal sebagai PF-07321332 dan ritonavir dosis rendah, obat lama yang banyak digunakan dalam pengobatan kombinasi untuk infeksi HIV. Obat Pfizer dirancang untuk memblokir aktivitas enzim kunci yang diperlukan virus corona untuk berkembang biak.
Sementara Merck menyatakan uji coba akan mempelajari obat eksperimental molnupiravir untuk pencegahan covid-19 pada orang dewasa yang tinggal satu rumah dengan pasien corona bergejala. Merck dan mitranya Ridgeback Biotherapeutics sudah melakukan uji coba tahap akhir pada pasien yang tidak dirawat di rumah sakit. Uji coba untuk melihat apakah obat mengurangi risiko rawat inap atau kematian.
Molnupiravir adalah jenis antivirus yang dirancang untuk memasukkan kesalahan ke dalam RNA virus yang pada akhirnya mencegah bereplikasi.
Last July Pfizer started a different trial of PF-07321332 in adults who have Covid-19 infection but have underlying diseases such as diabetes. Pfizer hopes the test results will be available this fall.
Swiss pharmaceutical company Roche Holding AG, has also made the greatest progress by developing the first antiviral pill drug to treat or even prevent Covid-19. To date, Gilead Sciences’ intravenous drug Veklury, commonly known as remdesivir, is the only antiviral treatment approved for Covid-19 in the United States.
Roche and partner Atea Pharmaceuticals in June said preliminary data from a trial of the experimental oral antiviral AT-527 showed that the drug lowered viral loads in hospitalized patients.
according to Merck in June, the US government agreed to pay about $1.2 billion for 1.7 million courses of molnupiravir, if proven successful and approved by regulators. The company said it would apply for an emergency use authorization of molnupiravir in the US as early as the second half of 2021.
Pfizer said in July if the PF-07321332 trial was successful, the company would apply for a potential emergency use authorization in the fourth quarter.
REUTERS | CHANNEL NEWS ASIA
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