Pfizer's CEO, Albert Bourla, stated that an oral medication for COVID-19 could be ready next year. In a program on CNBC, Bourla expressed hope that the drug could be produced by the end of the year if all goes well. The only currently approved antiviral medication for use against the coronavirus is remdesivir, produced by Gilead Sciences, which received emergency authorization from the FDA in May and was fully approved in October.
Bourla added that Pfizer is working on two antiviral treatments, one oral and one injectable. He mentioned the particular interest in the oral medication due to its several advantages, including that patients would not need to go to the hospital for treatment and could receive it at home. He indicated that the drug could be a more effective means against the virus's multiple mutations. The company plans to release more updates regarding this development later this summer.
Pfizer developed the COVID-19 vaccine in collaboration with the German pharmaceutical company BioNTech, which received emergency use authorization from the FDA in December and is one of three vaccines currently approved for use in the United States.
