According to the British “Daily Mail” website, the American company Pfizer has begun the final stages of the clinical trial of an oral medication that can protect against corona virus in people exposed to patients with symptoms of the corona virus.

Earlier, Pfizer said the antiviral drug showed “powerful” activity against the virus in laboratory studies.

And belongs to a drug called Pfizer PF-07321332For a class of drugs called protease inhibitors, the drug works by blocking an enzyme that uses the corona virus to copy itself into human cells.

Pfizer and its competitors, including the US company Merck and the Swiss pharmaceutical company Roche, are in the race to develop an antiviral pill for corona.

The company said protease inhibitors may be effective alone or in combination with other antivirals for other viral infections, such as HIV and hepatitis C.

Pfizer believes that these types of molecules may provide well-tolerated treatments against the corona virus because currently marketed therapies that work in the same way do not raise safety concerns.

Dr. Michael Tolston, Pfizer’s chief scientific officer, said: “The impact of the corona virus continues around the world.

If the treatment is successful, it could help stop the virus early – before it can reproduce on a large scale – and prevent symptomatic disease in exposed individuals and prevent infection in others, he said. The second and third stage test is a randomized test where some participants are given medication and others are given placebo.

To date, Remdecivir of Gilead Sciences is a fully FDA-approved drug (FDAHowever, to treat corona, the Food and Drug Administration has granted emergency use approval for two combination therapies, one from a company Eli Lily And by the other Regeneran.

The Pfizer announcement comes as Merck and its partner Ridgeback recently began a delayed trial of their test drug Molnupravir to prevent corona infection.

This is also being explored Molnupravir In late stage tests of patients not admitted to the hospital, see if it reduces the risk of hospitalization or death.