Pfizer has applied for FDA authorization for its oral antiviral

Pfizer submitted today an application for Emergency Use Authorization for its antiviral by the mouth Paxlovid.

The US government has reserved 10 million courses of treatment, to be purchased if the drug is authorized by the FDA.

This is a great breakthrough given that this drug is equally effective against all variants, present and future, because it targets a process that all variants have in order to replicate.

89% reduction in hospitalizations. Nobody in the active arm of the study died. 17 in the placebo group, did.

This development makes me really hopeful. I hope the FDA authorizes it relatively soon.

 

should have approval soon, Biden is handling this with warp speed, great job Biden, no other President would have done this as fast as Biden

 

I'm assuming you're being a bit sarcastic, because I'm not aware of this Pfizer development having had anything to do with the federal government. In this case, the US government is only entering this as a buyer. The intent to buy 10 million courses of treatment is a future contract, not a grant, not funding. And Pfizer will take a long time to honor it. Their production capacity is of only 100,000 to 200,000 courses of treatment, until the end of 2021. It will be a while until they can sell 10 million courses to the US government.

While this is a great development, it seems like it will be anything but warp speed...

 

yep, same was true with the vaccine, so figure it would make a point to the right

but yes, great news if as good as they say

 

Isn't this basically just a souped up different version of ivermectin?

Different molecule but exact same biological mechanism of action.

 

nope

https://apnews.com/article/fact-checking-067310377629

"As one infectious disease expert said, “The only way they are alike is that they are both pills.”"

"“These two are so far apart,” he said. “If you look at how they interact with the body..., they don’t even go to the same pathways or receptors.”"

 

What about them both being protease inhibitors?

 

Pfizer's pill is based on an older anti-viral technology, using something called a protease inhibitor.
These type of protease inhibitor pills have been used for many years to treat HIV and hepatitis C.

source here:
Pfizer taps HIV, hep C antiviral research for COVID-19 pill trial | FierceBiotech

Interestingly, the mechanism of action of ivermectin against viruses is also as a protease inhibitor.

source here: Identification of 3-chymotrypsin like protease (3CLPro) inhibitors as potential anti-SARS-CoV-2 agents | Communications Biology (nature.com)

Some of you may not know this, but it's very common for pharmaceutical companies to take something that they think works, and then develop an alternate version of it that they are able to patent. It takes a tremendous investment of money to get it to pass all the clinical tests. So often the natural or older medications are simply ignored for new treatments, because there is no way to secure a patent on them.

Ivermectin was discovered in the late 1970s and Merck's patent on it expired in 1996.

 

Oral drugs that are just effective are already available but they are generic so no $$$ for Pharma.

 

Yep, basically.

 

by that logic any of the treatments for HIV or hepatitis C woudl work

 

No, no logic there.

Apparently you don't seem to be able to understand the difference between a treatment for something versus a specific biologic mechanism of action.

Your attempted analogy is very strained.

 

I was not saying any as in any of the possible treatments, any of the protease inhibitor treatments

 

There are many different polymerases, and specific inhibition of one of them is not the same as specific inhibition of another one, and can yield vastly different results, as in, ivermectin is not effective in-vivo against the SARS-CoV-2, while Paxlovid is.
Also, for ivermectin's in-vitro activity to be useful against the SARS-CoV-2 in-vivo, the mega doses necessary to achieve in-vitro concentration would be too toxic for the in-vivo subject, while this doesn't happen for this new drug.

 

Ah OK.