Covid-19 Pill Race Heats Up as Japanese Firm Vies With Pfizer, Merck

[andhra_jp]

A Japanese company has started human trials of the first once-a-day pill for Covid-19 patients, joining Pfizer Inc and Merck Co in the race to find treatments for the disease.

Osaka-based Shionogi starts human trials for a once-a-day drug designed to neutralize the coronavirus in less than a week
 
The company said it is testing the drug and any side effects in trials that began this month and are likely to continue until next year.

Shionogi is months behind Pfizer and Merck, which have started later-stage tests of pills to treat Covid-19. Pfizer has said its twice-daily pill could be ready to hit the market as soon as this year

The Pfizer and Shionogi pills block infections by inhibiting an enzyme called protease that a virus needs to copy itself inside human cells. Protease inhibitors are widely used against other viruses including HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, but viral resistance is a potential challenge.

The failure rate for drug trials is generally high. Any side effect, even a relatively mild one such as nausea, could make a Covid-19 pill impractical for home use. It isn’t yet known whether getting rid of the virus in patients would translate into reducing serious complications such as low oxygen that land people in the hospital, researchers working on Covid-19 treatments said.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/covid-19-pill-race-heats-up-as-japanese-firm-vies-with-pfizer-merck-11627205403?mod=hp_lead_pos2