Pfizer COVID-19 Antiviral Pill Could Be Ready By The End of This Year

Pfizer’s new oral antiviral treatment for COVID-19 could be made available by the end of this year according to its Chairman and CEO, Albert Bourla. The American pharma company has already begun the Phase 1 trial for the antiviral treatment in the United States since early this year.

Speaking to CNBC’s Squawk Box, Albert pointed out that the oral medication which is currently being designated as antiviral candidate PF-07321332 could be used at home. This is unlike the traditional vaccine injection which needs to be administered at a hospital or a specially designated location.

Pfizer has previously noted that the new oral antiviral medication is essentially a protease inhibitor which is a type of drug that has also been used to treat HIV and hepatitis C virus. Designed to stop the SARS-CoV-2 virus from replicating itself, research has shown that the new medication not only has the potential to be used as COVID-19 treatment but also for future coronaviruses.

When asked whether the Malaysian government will procure the new COVID-19 antiviral pill from Pfizer, Minister Khairy Jamaluddin who is the coordinator of the National COVID-19 Immunisation Programme said during the COVID-19 Immunisation Task Force’s media session yesterday that the government is constantly evaluating all new vaccine candidates. But for now, Malaysia already has enough vaccine to cover 110% of its population according to the minister.

North Korea Reportedly Tried To Hack Pfizer To Steal Vaccine Technology

South Korea’s intelligence service (NIS) allegedly told the country’s lawmakers that North Korea has attempted to hack Pfizer servers to steal vaccine data. This was apparently revealed in a closed-door briefing for a South Korean parliamentary intelligence committee.

Committee member Ha Tae-keung told the press that Pfizer was the hacking’s target, only to be rebuked later by the NIS, which stated that it didn’t identify any pharmaceutical firm by name, calling his remarks “wrong.”

When he was reached by the AP, Ha didn’t budge from his earlier statement, explaining that he was shown NIS documents about the hacking. The wording about Pfizer “was so clear that I didn’t even ask about that verbally” during the briefing, he said. Ha suggested that the intelligence service was probably trying not to provoke North Korea.

This isn’t the first time that North Korean hackers have gone after vaccine data. In November last year, Microsoft revealed that hackers from North Korea, as well as Russia, went after top pharmaceutical companies and vaccine researchers in Canada, France, India, South Korea and the United States.

In those instances, North Korean hackers primarily employed spear-phishing tactics which involve masquerading as job recruiters or World Health Organisation (WHO) representatives. Phishing is an attempt to get sensitive information like usernames and passwords by pretending to be a trustworthy entity.

Ruled by reclusive leader Kim Jong Un, North Korea has reported exactly zero cases of COVID-19 so far. Last December, according to Nikkei Asia, the regime lambasted a South Korean minister who publicly doubted that figure.

MOH In Talks With Pfizer To Obtain Additional 30-Percent Of Vaccine Supply

The Ministry of Health (MOH) is in talks with Pfizer in hopes to secure another 30% of its Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine supply, according to Bernama. This isn’t the first time the government has approached the pharmaceutical company for this purpose, as it has previously done so back in November last year and recently in January 2021.

Initially, the government had originally purchased a total of 12.8 million vaccine doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine in November and would later add another 12.2 million in January – bringing the total number of dosages to 25 million, allowing for the vaccination of 39% of the Malaysian population. According to Bernama, MOH minister Datuk Seri Dr. Adham Baba says the additional amount would cover 50% of the Malaysian population, should the new deal pull through.

As previously reported, the first phase of the National COVID-19 Immunisation Plan Programme aims to vaccinate 500,000 frontliners and is scheduled to last until April. Phase two will take place from April to August 2021, and is expected to cover 9.4 million people in high-risk groups such as the elderly who are aged 60 years old above, as well as those with chronic diseases and the disabled community. The third phase will then focus on the rest of the Malaysian population, which will commence from May to February 2022.

On a related note, those interested to sign up for the vaccination programme are able to do so via MySejahtera. In addition, the mobile application is also planned to receive an update in the near future to include a function that will remind users to get their second dose of the vaccine.