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An experimental pill to treat Covid developed by the US company Pfizer cuts the risk of hospitalisation or death by 89% in vulnerable adults, clinical trial results suggest. The drug - Paxlovid - is intended for use soon after symptoms develop in people at high risk of severe disease. . . . . Interim data from trials of the treatment in 1,219 high-risk patients who had recently been infected with Covid found that 0.8% of those given Paxlovid were hospitalised compared with 7% of patients who were given a placebo or dummy pill. They were treated within three days of...

Pfizer (PFE) CEO Albert Bourla is betting big on repeating the success of its COVID-19 vaccine with an experimental oral treatment — and he's putting the company's money where its mouth is. Bourla told Yahoo Finance Wednesday the company is committing $1 billion to develop the oral treatment — a protease inhibitor — which would give the world an easy-to-use, targeted treatment, hopefully by year's end. The current market for COVID-19 treatments includes monoclonal antibodies and some repurposed drugs, including generics and Gilead Sciences' (GILD) Veklury (formerly Remdesivir) - all of which require being in a hospital or clinic to...