US-based pharmaceutical major Pfizer's Chief ExecutiveOfficer Albert Bourla said that the company's Covid-19 oral antiviral pill,which is in early-stage trials, could be ready by the end of the year, themedia reported.
According to CNBC, the company, which developed the firstauthorized Covid-19 vaccine in the US with German drugmaker BioNTech began anearly-stage clinical trial for testing a new antiviral therapy for Covid-19 inMarch.
The drug is part of a class of medicines called proteaseinhibitors and works by inhibiting an enzyme that the virus needs to replicatein human cells.
"If clinical trials go well and the Food and DrugAdministration (FDA) approves it, the drug could be distributed across the USby the end of the year," Bourla told CNBC.
Protease inhibitors are used to treat other viralpathogens such as HIV and hepatitis C, the report said.
Last month, the pharmaceutical giant asked the US Foodand Drug Administration (FDA) to expand the Emergency Use Authorisation (EUA)for its Covid-19 vaccine to include children ages 12 to 15.
The request to expand emergency use comes just days afterPfizer released data demonstrating its vaccine was 100 percent effective andwell-tolerated by the younger group.
Pfizer is also working on its vaccine for 6-month to11-year-old children.
A recent study, published in the journal Science, showedthat a single dose of Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines against Covid may boost immunityagainst the Covid-19 variants, only in people who were previously infected withthe deadly virus.
In people who have not previously been infected and haveso far only received one dose of vaccine, the immune response to variants ofconcern may be insufficient, the study indicated.