by Michael Erman
Nov. 16 (Reuters) – Pfizer on Tuesday announced that it had asked the United States to authorize its experimental antiviral treatment for COVID-19, after a clinical trial showed that the treatment reduced the risk of hospitalization by 89% or of death in people at risk of developing severe forms of the disease.
The American laboratory indicated that it had transmitted to the American drug regulator, the FDA, a request for an emergency authorization of its oral treatment, paxlovid, including data from a clinical trial which it reported earlier. this month provisional results.
It is not immediately clear how quickly the FDA could make its decision.
Merck, which has also developed, with Ridgeback Biotherapeutics, an experimental antiviral treatment for COVID-19, called molnupiravir, submitted its request on October 11.
It is expected that the treatments will be made available by the end of the year.
Pfizer said it expects to produce 180,000 complete treatments by the end of December, and then at least 50 million complete treatments by the year 2022.
(Report Michael Erman; French version Jean Terzian)
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