Merck’s COVID Pill Performed Well in “Pivotal Study”
Friday, October 01, 2021
Merck and its partner Ridgeback Biotherapeutics LP announced on Friday that their experimental Covid-19 pill helped prevent high-risk people early in the course of the disease in a pivotal study from becoming seriously ill and dying.
Merck says this is a major step toward providing the pandemic’s first easy-to-use, at-home treatment.
The pill cut the risk of hospitalization or death in study subjects with mild to moderate Covid-19 by about 50%, the companies said Friday.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTPublic health experts are already voicing concerns that the unvaccinated will choose to wait and see if they get infected and then take the pill.
Pfizer and other major drug companies have said they too are working on similar types of pills.
The drug, called molnupiravir, performed so well in its late-stage trial that Merck and Ridgeback said they stopped enrolling subjects after discussions with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
“More tools and treatments are urgently needed to fight the COVID-19 pandemic, which has become a leading cause of death and continues to profoundly affect patients, families, and societies and strain health care systems all around the world. With these compelling results, we are optimistic that molnupiravir can become an important medicine as part of the global effort to fight the pandemic and will add to Merck’s unique legacy of bringing forward breakthroughs in infectious diseases when they are needed most,” said Robert M. Davis, chief executive officer and president, Merck.
“Consistent with Merck’s unwavering commitment to save and improve lives, we will continue to work with regulatory agencies on our applications and do everything we can to bring molnupiravir to patients as quickly as possible,” said Davis
Merck plans to ask the FDA to authorize the drug’s use in the coming weeks.
“If cleared by regulators, the drug would be the first oral antiviral for Covid-19. Molnupiravir would become a kind of Tamiflu for Covid-19, a medication that can be dispensed to patients when they first develop symptoms, slowing the spread of the virus in the body and potentially preventing people from becoming seriously ill,” reported the WSJ.
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