COVID pill: The answer to the pandemic?

Pfizer has announced that it has launched a large-scale clinical trial of its anti-Covid pill to test its ability to prevent the risk of infection in the environment of a person with the disease. Several companies, such as Merck and Roche, are working on drugs of this type, called antiretrovirals. These work by preventing the virus from reproducing.

Their application can be twofold: to allow people who are already infected with the disease not to suffer from severe symptoms, but also to people who have come in close contact not to develop the disease. In case of definitive results, "we believe that this treatment can help to stop the virus very early - before it can be widely propagated - potentially preventing the symptomatic cases of the disease in those who have been exposed and stopping the onset infection in others, "said Pfizer's scientific director Michael Dolsten in a statement.

This approach is "complementary" to Covid vaccines, he added. This treatment, called PF-07321332, was developed in the form of an oral pill with a glass of water. More than 2,600 volunteers aged 18 and over will take part in the 2/3 phase clinical trial announced today. Some will take the pill, which is given twice a day for 5 to 10 days, and others will take placebo.