New At-Home Pill to Fight COVID May Be Available in Minnesota By End of Year

COVID-19 has been a dominant part of all of our lives for the last 14 months and we are all hoping to get back to "normal" sooner than later. Pfizer, the pharmaceutical company behind one of the currently available vaccines, now says they have developed a pill that you could take at home when symptoms of COVID first set in.

The company hopes the pill is available to everyone by the end of the year.

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The pill, called a protease inhibitor, prevents a virus from replicating in the cell. The same process is also used for treating viral pathogens like HIV and Hepatitis C.

“Tackling the COVID-19 pandemic requires both prevention via vaccine and targeted treatment for those who contract the virus. Given the way that SARS-CoV-2 is mutating and the continued global impact of COVID-19, it appears likely that it will be critical to have access to therapeutic options both now and beyond the pandemic,” said Mikael Dolsten, MD, PhD., Chief Scientific Officer and President, Worldwide Research, Development and Medical of Pfizer. “We have designed PF-07321332 as a potential oral therapy that could be prescribed at the first sign of infection, without requiring that patients are hospitalized or in critical care. At the same time, Pfizer’s intravenous antiviral candidate is a potential novel treatment option for hospitalized patients. Together, the two have the potential to create an end to end treatment paradigm that complements vaccination in cases where disease still occurs.”

According to NBC News, Pfizer is also hoping to expand availability of its vaccine to kids aged 12-15 soon, while the company is also testing its vaccine on children as young as six months old.