Pfizer's oral Covid-19 antiviral cuts hospitalization, death by 85%

Re:Pfizer's oral Covid-19 antiviral cuts hospitalization, de... by peapod91 on Friday November 05, 2021 @09:53AM (#29119231)

That’s correct. If a positive effect in the treatment arm of the study is found to be strong enough, it is deemed unethical to continue giving patients the placebo as control. Hence, they terminate the study and proceed to the next phase of approval

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Re:Pfizer's oral Covid-19 antiviral cuts hospitalization, de... by orra on Friday November 05, 2021 @10:01AM (#29119346)

That it's unethical to continue giving half the participants a placebo makes sense.

I am curious though: do they ever continue with the trial, with the patients on the actual drug? Might that be useful for monitoring rare-ish side effects, even if the drug is highly effective?

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Re:Pfizer's oral Covid-19 antiviral cuts hospitalization, de... by dbbk on Friday November 05, 2021 @02:47PM (#29123274)

I believe they've only halted recruiting for the trial, not the trial itself. The Pfizer CEO this morning also said they're continuing with plans for two other trials starting soon, which is in people with non-co-morbidities, and to household contacts of confirmed cases.

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Re:Pfizer's oral Covid-19 antiviral cuts hospitalization, de... by orra on Friday November 05, 2021 @04:48PM (#29124582)

Presumably they're kicking the placebo participants out? As others say, it is not ethical to give them ineffective treatment (placebo), given the effectiveness of the drug has been clearly demonstrated.

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Re:Pfizer's oral Covid-19 antiviral cuts hospitalization, de... by zerkten on Friday November 05, 2021 @10:13AM (#29119522)

They almost always do this as an approval requirement.

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Re:Pfizer's oral Covid-19 antiviral cuts hospitalization, de... by orra on Friday November 05, 2021 @10:30AM (#29119792)

Gotcha, thanks.

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