Pfizer announced Friday that clinical trials conducted for the first pill of its kind that it produced to treat COVID-19 patients appear to be highly effective.

The drug, Paxlovid, reduces the risk of hospitalization or death by 89 percent in vulnerable adults.

The company stated that it has already stopped trials as the initial results were so positive.

The company added that it is willing to submit a request to the US Food and Drug Administration as soon as possible in order to obtain a permission for emergency use.

"These data suggest that our oral antiviral candidate, if approved by regulatory authorities, has the potential to save patients' lives, reduce the severity of COVID-19 infections, and eliminate up to nine out of ten hospitalizations," Albert Bourla, chairman CEO of Pfizer, said in a statement.

Interim data from trials of the treatment in 1,219 high-risk patients who had recently been infected with the coronavirus found that 0.8 percent of those given Paxlovid were hospitalized compared with seven percent of patients who were given a placebo or dummy pill.

Pfizer began developing the drug in March 2020.