Pfizer stated on Wednesday that it has begun a clinical trial of Paxlovid, a Covid antiviral medicine, in non-hospitalized pediatric patients aged 6 to 17.
The Covid patients who will be evaluated will have a verified, symptomatic case of Covid-19 with the potential to advance to a more serious condition.
“Paxlovid is already authorized or approved in many countries around the world, with more than 1.5 million treatment courses delivered thus far and 30 million expected by July to help combat this devastating disease,” Pfizer’s Chief Scientific Officer Mikael Dolsten said in a statement.
“We are proud to expand studies of our novel COVID-19 treatment to include pediatric participants to further evaluate the safety and efficacy of this treatment in this important population,” He added.
In open-label, single-arm research, 140 pediatric patients will be enrolled in this phase 2/3 clinical trial. Children aged 6 to 17 who weigh at least 88 pounds (40kg) and children aged 6 to 17 who weigh less than 88 pounds will be separated into two groups.
For five days, the first group will receive a daily 300mg dose of Paxlovid, while the second group will receive a 150mg dose. Following that, the patients will be examined to evaluate how well they respond to the drug.
The business also stated that it is working on developing a dose for younger children and that once that dose is found, clinical trials would be expanded to those age groups.
