China’s Covid Pill Works Against Omicron, Trial Shows

Researchers found that the average viral shedding time for patients who received the pill within five days of their first positive test, was 8.56 days, shorter than the 11.13 days for those not given this treatment. Photo: VCG

A clinical trial of a Covid pill developed in China shows it may shorten the period of viral infection in mild sufferers of omicron, a promising finding as the highly contagious variant and its subvariants surge around the world.

The oral antiviral drug VV116, co-developed by Shanghai Junshi Biosciences Co. Ltd., Jiangsu-based Vigonvita Life Sciences Co. Ltd. and the Chinese Academy of Sciences, is now undergoing phase III trials to evaluate its safety and efficacy in Covid patients. One of the trials is for mild-to-moderate patients, compared with Pfizer Inc.’s Covid-19 pill, Paxlovid, which received conditional approval by China in February.