Pfizer said Friday that a clinical trial of their coronary pill was terminated early because it was shown to reduce the risk of hospitalization and death by 89 percent.

Preliminary figures from the testing were presented on Friday.

The antiviral drugs come in pill form, and should be taken three times daily in combination with an antiviral drug. The Pfizer medicine has been named Paxlovid.

– These are very positive results that show a clear reduction in the need for hospitalization, says Norway’s global health ambassador, John-Arne Røttingen.

Good results

The figures were presented in one press release from the company on Friday. They are based on tests that show that adults with coronary heart disease with a high risk of serious illness have an 89% lower risk of hospitalization or death after 28 days. This is when using the new medicine in combination with the antiviral medicine ritonavir.

The decrease was measured in relation to patients receiving placebo medicine.

Steinar Madsen in the Norwegian Medicines Agency explains by means of inhibiting the formation of the virus. The results presented on Friday show good efficiency.

– Of those who received the narcotics pill, 7 percent ended up in hospital. Of those who received the real pill, 0.8 percent. So it was a pretty big reduction, says Madsen.

He believes the numbers should be reliable.

– We must always see complete data and preferably publications. What are the side effects, for example? Men results look promising.

More medications

Pfizer is now requesting approval of funds in the United States.

This means that one may soon have medicines for the treatment of coronary heart disease on the market.

Yesterday came the news that the UK approves the coronary pill Molnupiravir from the pharmaceutical company Merck for use in adults in the risk group for severe coronary heart disease.

Merck informed in early October using can halve the risk of being hospitalized after coronary heart disease.

– It is important that there are now various drugs that can be used for early treatment after a positive test for high risk. It will provide a healthy competition, says John-Arne Røttingen.

– I want Pfizer to also choose an active approach to licenses that can ensure access to the new drug in the poorest countries, as MSD / Merck has done.

Do not forget the vaccine

When Pfizer’s corona pill will be available in Norway is currently unclear.

– It will depend on approval in Europe, because this will have a common European approval. So EMA, the European Medicines Agency, will work with this in the future, says Steinar Madsen in the Norwegian Medicines Agency.

He believes that treatment is good news for patients, but that it is used correctly.

– It can be a very useful addition to the vaccine, but it is the vaccine that will first and foremost bring us through this pandemic. We must not forget that, because we must not risk that people are vaccinated to a lesser extent and would rather have a pill.