“Today’s leave adds a new treatment against Covid-19 in the form of an oral pill,” said Patricia Cavazoni, an official with the Food and Drug Administration.
“This drug can be taken in the five days following the onset of symptoms of infection, and it reduces the risk of hospitalization and death by 30 percent for those in poor health,” she added.
And the US Food and Drug Administration approved, on Wednesday, a similar treatment produced by Pfizer, marketed as Baxlovid, and it reduces the same risks by 90 percent, according to preliminary studies. This medicine consists of two tablets taken twice a day for 5 days, and this medicine can be given to patients exposed to dangerous forms of the disease and over the age of 12 years.
Merck’s treatment, molnoperavir, consists of eight doses daily for five days.
In its statement, the US Food and Drug Administration stressed that these two treatments are a complement to the vaccine, which remains the main tool in the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic.
The United States purchased 3.1 million samples of Merck’s treatment and 10 million from Fierce.
Two days before Christmas, the United States is witnessing a rapid outbreak of Omicron, which has become the dominant mutation in the country.
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