US Drug Maker Produces First Covid-19 Antiviral Pill

Femi Ashekun/

US pharmaceutical company, Merck, is seeking emergency authorisation for first of its kind Covid-19 antiviral drug after “remarkable” clinical trials.

According to the company, a late-stage clinical trial showed the drug, called molnupiravir, cut the risk of hospitalisation or death by 50 percent.

If authorised by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the drug would be the first treatment of its kind — a twice-daily pill prescribed for five days to patients who have recently been diagnosed with Covid.

The US pharmaceuticals company said yesterday that it had stopped the phase 3 clinical trial early after an interim analysis showed that 7.3 percent of patients on the drug had died or been hospitalised, versus 14.1 percent of those receiving a placebo.

The interim analysis of data from 775 patients showed that none of the participants receiving molnupiravir had died during the first 29 days of the study, versus eight who received a placebo, Merck said.

The company said it would apply for emergency use authorisation for the drug in the US within the next two weeks and thereafter in several other countries.

The drug demonstrated “consistent efficacy” across multiple coronavirus variants, including the highly transmissible Delta strain that has led to a fresh wave of Covid cases in several countries, Merck said.

An FDA authorisation would pave the way for general practitioners to begin prescribing the pill to recently diagnosed “outpatients” who have not yet been hospitalised.

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