Pfizer announced that it started the final stages of its new COVID-19 pills for non-hospitalized children aged between six to 17 years old and are at a high risk of severe illness, Al Ain reported on Thursday.
Known as Paxlovid, the drug has been authorized for emergency use in the US for kids who are older than 12 years old and at high risk of severe symptoms.
140 children were enlisted in the study of the drugmaker, and they were divided into two groups according to weight differences.
Pfizer’s Chief of Scientific Officer Mikael Dolsten said: “Since the beginning of the pandemic, more than 11 million children under the age of 18 in the United States alone have tested positive for COVID-19, representing nearly 18% of reported cases and leading to more than 100,000 hospital admissions.”
Leading pharmaceutical and biotechnology firms Pfizer and BioNTech announced the beginning of the clinical trials for their vaccine that targets the Omicron COVID-19 variant, the Brussels Times reported on Tuesday.
The earliest stage of the clinical trials will include 1420 people and they will be divided into three groups.
Three main features of the vaccine would be evaluated and they are tolerability, efficacy, and safety.
The CEO of BioNTech Ugur Sahin said in a press release: “The study is part of our scientific approach to develop a variant-based vaccine that provides similar protection against Omicron as we observed with the previous variants, which also lasts longer.”
Regarding the division of the groups, the first group would contain 605 participants and they received two doses of the available vaccine between 90 and 180 days before the study and they will now receive one or two doses of the newly developed one for Omicron.
