A pill that could clear up COVID-19 symptoms may soon be available, as trials for the pill are currently ongoing.
- The pill treatment — an oral antiviral — has the potential to cure one’s COVID-19 symptoms and slow the spread all at once, according to experts who spoke with CNN.
- The pill would be something similar to Tamiflu, which often limits the severity of symptoms with influenza.
Dr. Elizabeth Duke, a Fred Hutch research associate overseeing a trial for one COVID-19 pill, said it’s been hard to recruit people for the trials. Participants have to be unvaccinated, for starters. And most people they ask end up saying no to the trial.
Still, Duke told CNN she sees the potential in the pill’s ability to bring back a normal life.
- “Think about that,” said Duke, who is also overseeing a prophylactic trial. “You could give it to everyone in a household, or everyone in a school. Then we’re talking about a return to, maybe, normal life.”
Multiple companies have been trying to make these COVID-19 pills. Pfizer has started the development of one of those pills, for example.
The Wall Street Journal reports that a new experimental COVID-19 pill that is similar to Tamiflu.
- This pill “significantly reduced infectious virus in subjects in a mid-stage study after five days of treatment,” according to The Wall Street Journal.
Similarly, Oravax announced earlier this year that it is trying to make a COVID-19 vaccine that would be swallowed by pill. Of course, studies are still ongoing for such a pill.