Pharmalittle: A race to develop Covid-19 pills is underway; Russian trolls target Pfizer vaccine

Good morning, everyone, and welcome to another working week. We hope the weekend respite was relaxing and refreshing, because the familiar routine of online calls and deadlines has, predictably, returned. But what can you do? The world keeps spinning, no matter how hard we try to slow it down. So to cope, we are firing up the coffee kettle and brewing cups of stimulation. Our choice today is salted caramel mocha — a taste of the Jersey shore. Meanwhile, here are some tidbits. Hope your day goes well and you conquer the world…

Shionogi (SGIOY) has started human trials of the first once-a-day pill for Covid-19 patients, joining Pfizer (PFE) and Merck (MRK) in the race to find treatments for the disease, The Wall Street Journal tells us. The company said the once-a-day dosing would be more convenient and began trials this month that are likely to continue until next year, but  is months behind Pfizer and Merck, which have started later-stage tests of their pills. Pfizer has said its twice-daily pill could be ready to hit the market as soon as this year.

Russian Internet troll factories have been blamed for an anti-Pfizer Covid jab smear campaign, The Daily Mail writes, citing by a new report from The Network Contagion Research Institute. The aim of the misinformation drive is to promote the country’s own Sputnik V vaccine and tactics used by the smear campaign include releasing and promoting negative coverage of Pfizer and targeting specific countries. Marketing firms from Russia also directly approached popular figures to try and get them to act on their Facebook and Instagram platforms.

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