Early studies of potential coronavirus treatment show promise: Pfizer

US drugmaker Pfizer said on Thursday that early data has helped it identify a drug candidate with the potential to help treat patients infected with the novel coronavirus.
 

It also finalised a plan to develop a coronavirus vaccine in partnership with German drugmaker BioNTech SE and said the companies hope to produce millions of vaccines by the end of 2020. The companies said they plan to start trials of the vaccine as early as this month.
 

Data from preclinical studies of a compound that was originally developed to treat SARS — a different coronavirus that caused a major epidemic in 2003 — shows its potential to treat patients with the new coronavirus, Pfizer research chief Mikael Dolsten told Reuters.
 

Pfizer said it will conduct additional preclinical studies of the drug and aims to begin trials in humans in the third quarter of 2020.
 

In addition, Pfizer said it plans to support studies to determine whether existing Pfizer medicines, including its rheumatoid arthritis drug Xeljanz, may provide benefits for those struggling with the Covid-19 respiratory illness caused by the coronavirus.

“Pfizer has mobilised resources and capabilities to address every single frontier of the Covid-19 pandemic,” Dolsten said.
 

More than a dozen drugmakers, including Pfizer, have announced plans in recent months to develop treatments for the coronavirus.