Pill to treat COVID-19 could be available year's end, Pfizer CEO says

Fending off COVID-19 and avoiding potential trips to the hospital could soon be as simple as taking a pill.

Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla told CNBC on Tuesday that the drugmaker is working to introduce an experimental drug to treat the disease at its onset by year-end. Pfizer in March began an early-stage clinical trial of a new antiviral therapy for the coronavirus, which has killed more than 573,000 Americans.  The drug could potentially be prescribed "at the first sign of infection, without requiring that patients are hospitalized or in critical care," Dr. Mikael Dolsten, chief scientific officer and president, worldwide research, development and medical of Pfizer, stated last month. Part of a group of medicines called protease inhibitors, which are used to treat HIV and Hepatitis C, the drug curbs production of enzymes needed for the virus to multiply in human cells.