Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla has issued a statement that Pfizer’s Covid-19 treatment pill is effective in fighting omicron variants.
In an interview with CNBC, Bourla said that he has good news coming from their treatment specialists that their treatment is effective in dealing with Covid-19 variant mutations. On that basis he expressed confidence that their treatment process would not be affected by this virus.
Pfizer had proposed its application earlier this year to the Food And Drug administration to allow the use of the pill, Paxlovid, for emergency use. In a clinical trial on people 18 years of age and older, Pfizer found that the pill could reduce hospital admissions and mortality by 89% when taken with HIV medication.
The pill is said to be able to block enzymes that viruses need to mutate. It is used in combination with HIV drugs that slow down human metabolism to allow Paxlovid to remain active in the body longer at higher concentrations to fight the virus.
Pfizer now expects to produce 80 million which is an increase from the original manufacturing goal of targeting 50 million pills produced. The Biden administration has purchased 10 million Paxlovid courses in a $ 5 billion deal.
The World Health Organization, in a technical paper published on Sunday, warned that omicron poses a “very high” global risk with the possibility of further increasing transmission.
Although Bourla is optimistic about the effectiveness of Paxlovid, he said the effect of omicron on the two -dose vaccine has yet to be seen. Waima, Bourla said Pfizer has already started working to produce new vaccines if necessary.
