A daily pill to treat Covid could be on its way

The new drugs could also limit its transmission

Scientific officials are currently developing a pill that would allow people to treat Covid while also limiting its transmission - and no Joe Rogan, it isn’t Ivermectin. Three antiviral treatments for Covid are currently in the clinical trial phase, reports NBC. They suggest that the treatment would involve the daily oral taking of pills which would work similarly to antivirals like those used to combat hepatitis C, HIV and influenza infections by destroying the virus's ability to replicate. The results from the clinical tests are thought to arrive this winter. “I think that we will have answers as to what these pills are capable of within the next several months,” Carl Dieffenbach, director of the Division of AIDS at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told NBC. Merck & Co. and Ridgeback Biotherapeutics, Pfizer,and Roche and Atea Pharmaceuticals are the three companies spearheading this revolutionary new technology. “Distribution could begin quickly,” said Dieffenbach, as long as the tests are successful. But the trials have run into a few complications, most notably finding people to test the drugs. Each trial requires hundreds of participants, all within five days of testing positive for Covid. On top of that, they also need to be unvaccinated - and everyone knows how apprehensive anti-vaxxers are about putting thoroughly researched and tested drugs into their bodies. “Just, generally speaking, there’s a lot of mistrust about the scientific process,” said Dr Elizabeth Duke, a researcher overseeing one of the trials. “And some of the people are saying kind of nasty things to the interns.”

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