Drugmaker Merck will soon seek regulatory FDA approval for an oral antiviral medication to treat COVID-19.
Experts in the field are calling the data from Merck trials "impressive." If approved, the pill, known as molnupiravir, will be the first oral antiviral COVID-19 drug used to decrease symptoms after contraction of the virus.
Dr. Robert Shafer, infectious disease specialist and expert on antiviral therapy at Stanford University, reviewed the data. "The study looked at patients who were at high risk of disease progression," he said. "If patients are caught early, there will be a 50% reduction in severe outcomes."
Monoclonal antibody therapy, a COVID-19 treatment released in May, performs better than the pill in antiviral studies, ranging closer to 80% effective in preventing hospitalization and death, but the therapy needs to be administered through IV infusion, Shafer told KCBS Radio, making it more difficult to administer.
As the pill goes to the FDA for emergency use authorization, considerations of when to use one antiviral treatment versus the other will arise. "Who should get monoclonal antibodies, who should get molnupiravir, and in rare cases, perhaps with very high risk individuals, who should get both?" Shafer contemplated.
The pill is a boost of confidence for health officials; Dr. Anthony Fauci called it "very good news." However, vaccination will remain as the government’s primary strategy for controlling the pandemic.
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