Japanese Company, Shionogi, has Started Human Trials of the First Once-a-day Pill for COVID. Pill Aims to Neutralize the Virus 5 days after a Patient takes it w/o Vaccine

From [HERE] A Japanese company has started human trials of the first once-a-day pill for Covid-19 patients, joining Pfizer Inc. PFE 0.51% and Merck MRK 1.32% & Co. in the race to find treatments for the disease.

Osaka-based Shionogi 4507 3.20% & Co., which helped develop the blockbuster cholesterol drug Crestor, said it designed its pill to attack the Covid-19 virus. It said the once-a-day dosing would be more convenient. The company said it is testing the drug and any side effects in trials that began this month and are likely to continue until next year.

Shionogi is months behind Pfizer and Merck, which have started later-stage tests of pills to treat Covid-19. Pfizer has said its twice-daily pill could be ready to hit the market as soon as this year. It is preparing to enroll more than 2,000 patients in a test of the antiviral pillcombined with a booster antiviral drug against a placebo.

All three companies aim to fill one of the biggest gaps in fighting the pandemic. Vaccines remain effective at preventing serious illness from known strains of the Covid-19 virus including the contagious Delta strain, studies have shown. But some people don’t want to get vaccinated, and cases can occur for those who do get their shots. 

Existing treatments, including Gilead Sciences Inc.’s infused antiviral drug remdesivir, generally have to be administered in hospitals and work only some of the time. Other drugs that can be given in hospitals include monoclonal antibody drugs such as one made byRegeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc. and the steroid dexamethasone.

Drugmakers are looking for a pill that those who get a positive Covid-19 test could take at home while their symptoms are mild. Such medicines already exist for influenza, includingRoche Holding AG’s Tamiflu and Shionogi’s Xofluza, although they don’t work for all patients and might be prescribed too late to do much good. Xofluza is marketed in the U.S. by Roche.

“Our target is a very safe oral compound, like Tamiflu, like Xofluza,” said Isao Teshirogi, Shionogi’s chief executive officer. He said Shionogi’s Covid-19 pill aims to neutralize the virus five days after a patient takes it.

Dr. Teshirogi said Shionogi expects to enroll 50 to 100 healthy subjects in its trial in Japan. A larger trial comparing the drug with a placebo in Covid-19 patients could begin in Japan later this year, he said.

The failure rate for drug trials is generally high. Any side effect, even a relatively mild one such as nausea, could make a Covid-19 pill impractical for home use. It isn’t yet known whether getting rid of the virus in patients would translate into reducing serious complications such as low oxygen that land people in the hospital, researchers working on Covid-19 treatments said. [MORE]