Pfizer COVID capsule benefited from investigation on SARS : Pictures

Pfizer COVID capsule benefited from investigation on SARS : Pictures

Researchers at Pfizer’s investigate and enhancement laboratories in Groton, Conn., worked on the COVID-19 capsule called Paxlovid.

Stew Milne/AP


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Stew Milne/AP


Researchers at Pfizer’s exploration and progress laboratories in Groton, Conn., worked on the COVID-19 pill referred to as Paxlovid.

Stew Milne/AP

Two new prescription drugs are awaiting authorization from the Food items and Drug Administration for dealing with people with COVID-19, and equally may well be effective in opposition to the omicron variant.

One particular is created by Merck, the other by Pfizer.

The Merck drug has been in improvement for decades. When the pandemic started, Pfizer’s drug didn’t exist. The story of its development is yet another instance of how COVID-19 has sped up the drug and vaccine development course of action.

Pfizer was not beginning accurately from zero. Mikael Dolsten, Pfizer’s chief scientific officer, suggests that for the duration of the SARS outbreak in 2003, firm experts had started to research for approaches to fight that coronavirus.

In certain, they appeared for proteins vital for the virus to replicate as soon as it contaminated someone.

Pfizer centered on protein virus wants for replication

Just one viral protein they centered on is named a protease. “We have discovered that protease is a essential regulator for the virus to unleash its equipment and hijack the human cells,” Dolsten states.

Pfizer experts believed if they could discover a compound that would disrupt the protease, it would effectively stop the virus dead in its tracks.

That research petered out when the 2003 SARS outbreak passed. No illness, no market for a drug.

But Dolsten states the awareness that was gained persuaded them that a protease inhibitor would perform to corral the coronavirus causing COVID-19.

They produced pc designs of the viral protease protein and assembled drug candidates that could block it.

“We in fact experienced to design and style and synthesize some 600 special chemical compounds,” he claims.

An aged medication helps the new drug perform much better

That was just the start off. They had to check every single compound to see how nicely it prevented the virus from infecting cells in the lab. Then they had to ascertain irrespective of whether it would do the same factor in animals infected with the coronavirus. They also needed to come across a prospect that would keep on being in someone’s system extensive adequate to have the desired antiviral result. And they desired to do all this rapidly.

“We put in position some really aggressive timelines where we built all of this materialize above 4 months to arrive down to the optimum medicine,” Dolsten says.

In the finish, the drug developers experienced a candidate they considered would get the job done. They combined it in a pill with an outdated drug named ritonavir that prolonged the motion of the protease inhibitor.

This earlier July, Pfizer commenced a examine of individuals infected with the coronavirus who ended up at high possibility of acquiring serious COVID-19. Fifty percent got

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FDA Committee Endorses Pfizer COVID-19 Vaccine for Kids 5-11 | Health News

FDA Committee Endorses Pfizer COVID-19 Vaccine for Kids 5-11 | Health News

The Food and Drug Administration’s vaccine advisory committee on Tuesday overwhelmingly endorsed a smaller dose of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine for kids ages 5-11, a key step in getting shots to the 28 million children in the age group.

The committee decided that the benefits of the vaccine outweigh the risks for the age group. Many members said the shot would be important to continuing in-person learning for children. On the other hand, some cited the increased risk of myocarditis, a rare condition of heart inflammation that has been linked to the Pfizer and Moderna shots, as a concern. Others expressed worry that authorization of the vaccine in this age group could lead to vaccine mandates from schools.

The FDA doesn’t have to follow the committee’s recommendations, though it usually does. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s vaccine advisory committee meets next week to consider the shot. If the CDC director accepts the recommendations, the shots can begin.

Cartoons on the Coronavirus

The Biden administration has already published its plan to distribute the shots should they gain authorization. It includes sending the shots to more than 25,000 pediatric offices and other primary care sites, over 100 children’s hospital systems and tens of thousands of pharmacies. Hundreds of schools and community-based clinics will also get the shots.

In documents filed with the FDA, Pfizer said that its vaccine is nearly 91% effective against symptomatic infection in the age group. Pfizer proposes the two-dose series to be administered three weeks apart.

Pfizer studied shots for children ages 5-11 that are approximately one-third the dosage given to adults. The smaller dosage was “carefully selected as the preferred dose for safety, tolerability and immunogenicity in children 5 to 11 years of age,” the company said in a press release. The company said side effects for children are “generally comparable to those observed in participants 16 to 25 years of age.”

While kids generally don’t get severe cases of COVID-19 as often as older populations, they can still get seriously ill and die from the disease. More than 600 children in the U.S. have died from the disease, according to CDC data. Coronavirus cases in children peaked in September as many parents sent their kids back to school. While infections are down, kids still make up over 25% of new cases, according to a recent report.

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