The anti-Covid arsenal is about to get extended to fight against the disease… Pfizer France director David Lepoittevin has announced this Friday April 8 to our peers from Le Parisien that tow coronavirus treatments were being studied by the American laboratory. The first one would be given orally, the other one intravenously.
“These antiviral candidate treatments – one orally, the other intravenously – are still completing a very early phase of their developments”, he explains. He goes on, “the oral one in-vitro encouraging results decided us to quickly launch a clinical study in healthy adults to assess the dose and habituation to this medication”.
As for the oral therapy, the laboratory announced they have initiated a clinical trial including 60 volunteers for the first step in two locations: one in Belgium, the other in the United States. A therapy that - if results are conclusive - could be marketed after being approved by the end of the year by regulators.
The laboratory is working on all fronts, Lepoittevin highlights: “Our scientists do not ease their efforts”. In addition to the two treatments studied, Pfizer keeps on widely producing the vaccine to deliver it all over the world. In France, to support the spread of the vaccine in Europe, the laboratory announced they will produce the solution in a German factory to be bottled in France in the Delpharm factory specialized in bottling pharmaceutical products.
Please also note that during this interview, Pfizer France director also addressed the announcement of - not proven - delayed deliveries in May: “This is no delay, but interpretation of the schedule” he explains. He goes on: “We deliver France on Tuesdays and the State counts deliveries the day before, on Monday. For the last week of May, the 31st being a Monday and June 1st a Tuesday, for the State, they are linked to May and June for Pfizer. This is the explanation”. He concludes: “What I can tell is that we have a signed contractual commitment we comply with. Our goal was to deliver 27.7 million doses between April and June. Not only we will be in due course, but we will even supply 29.5 million doses”.