Pfizer says COVID-19 pill cut hospital, death risk by 90%

[Texacon]

https://www.democraticunderground.com/100216019661

Clash City Rocker
Pfizer says COVID-19 pill cut hospital, death risk by 90%

https://news.yahoo.com/covid-19-pill-cut-hospital-105038209.html

I’ve been waiting for these threads. I wondered how ugly the DUmmies would get over people not needing to take the shot and still have options.

They are going to reject this. Guaranteed. They are going to hate this more than you know.

Wounded Bear
1. Sounds promising, though I suppose the anti-vaxxers will use it as an excuse to avoid the jab...nt

If it’s promising, why worry?

BGBD
2. They don't need an excuse
They're already not getting it. Instead they'll just come up with some reason this pill is the devil and the cure for Covid is sniffing more glue.

KC

[SVPete]

From the DU-linked AP article:

Pfizer said it will ask the FDA and international regulators to authorize its pill as soon as possible, after independent experts recommended halting the company’s study based on the strength of its results. Once Pfizer applies, the FDA could make a decision within weeks or months.

Since the beginning of the pandemic last year, researchers worldwide have been racing to find a pill to treat COVID-19 that can be taken at home to ease symptoms, speed recovery and keep people out of the hospital.

AP doesn't go into underlying detail, but basically what AP reported means that the Pfizer drug was in Phase 3 testing, and the in-process results were so good that the independent test safety and effectiveness monitoring people (normal for all drug and vaccine tests - the FDA and drug company do not have direct oversight of tests nor custody of test data) decided the results were so dramatic that the delay to complete the test would needlessly delay introduction of an effective drug. Also, if AP used the word "authorize" precisely, that means the drug would be administered, for a time, under Emergency Use Authorization, not full approval.

On the side, FDA test processes being what they are, this drug has probably been in human testing for a year or so (with weeks or months of cell-level and animal testing before that). Obviously Pfizer did not view a Covid treatment as a competitor against their Covid vaccine.

[DLR Pyro]

Wounded Bear
1. Sounds promising, though I suppose the anti-vaxxers will use it as an excuse to avoid the jab...nt

so you guys think that people opposed to getting the covid vaccine in the form of a shot will gladly accept the vaccine in the form of a pill?  As if a pill can cause less harm than a shot.  Ever hear of a cyanide pill?

No DUmmies, the thing is not everyone is willing to allow a foreign substance into their body that they are not comfortable with regardless of how it is introduced to their system.

Their body, their choice, right?

[Ralph Wiggum]

From the DU-linked AP article:

AP doesn't go into underlying detail, but basically what AP reported means that the Pfizer drug was in Phase 3 testing, and the in-process results were so good that the independent test safety and effectiveness monitoring people (normal for all drug and vaccine tests - the FDA and drug company do not have direct oversight of tests nor custody of test data) decided the results were so dramatic that the delay to complete the test would needlessly delay introduction of an effective drug. Also, if AP used the word "authorize" precisely, that means the drug would be administered, for a time, under Emergency Use Authorization, not full approval.

On the side, FDA test processes being what they are, this drug has probably been in human testing for a year or so (with weeks or months of cell-level and animal testing before that). Obviously Pfizer did not view a Covid treatment as a competitor against their Covid vaccine.

Good data, and some anecdotal evidence from my days coordinating the financial portion of grants to a University research institute from the NIH and corporate benefactors.  Probably 90% of the clinical trials took 5 to 10 years before ever being approved or rejected.  When I worked there for the better part of the 2000's, several of the studies had started in the late 1980's and early '90's.

This entire process of emergency approval seems awfully rushed to gain political points, regardless of which President was in office.  That being said, I got the vaccine (as I've stated numerous times) only because my primary care physician assured me it was safe.  Effectiveness is another issue.  I'm pro vaccine (but won't badger people to take it) but VERY anti-mandate.

[SVPete]

1. This Pfizer drug is a treatment, not a vaccine.

2. There is an oral Covid vaccine in development, but by Vaxart, not Pfizer. It's a viral vector vaccine, not an mRNA vaccine like Pfizer's. IIRC, the Vaxart vaccine is in Phase 2 testing. There are people who cannot receive any injected vaccine because they are allergic to one of the non-active ingredients used in most injected vaccines. Pill form would give them an option not available with current Covid vaccines.

[jukin]

Pfizer lies.

[thundley4]

1. This Pfizer drug is a treatment, not a vaccine.

There currently is no vaccine for C-19, there is only a semi-prophylactic jab the lessens the impact of the contracting the virus.