According to the company, Merck & Co.’s antiviral molnupiravir would halve the risk of death and hospitalization of unvaccinated Covid patients. The treatment will cost $ 700 and must be given within five days of the onset of symptoms to be effective
1 What is the molnupiravir pill?
It is a antiviral drug which in the phase 3 clinical study (on 775 patients) showed reduce the risk of hospitalization and death by 50 percent in adult patients with mild or moderate Covid (not vaccinated) but at risk of serious disease (due to obesity, old age, diabetes or cardiovascular disease). The new variants (Delta, Gamma and Mu) accounted for 80% of the cases evaluated. The results were announced a few days ago in a press release from the two companies that produced it: Msd, or Merck & Co. and Ridgeback Biotherapeutics. Based on these data, the companies will apply to the American Food and Drug Administration for authorization for emergency use. The news was enthusiastically received by scientists. The immunologist Anthony Fauci, a White House advisor on the pandemic, spoke of impressive results.
2 Why was the trial stopped?
The recruitment of volunteers has been suspended for manifest superiority of the drug compared to placebo: it is not ethically acceptable to deprive patients given placebo of the benefit deriving from the drug.
3 How does the drug work?
Researchers from Emory University in Atlanta (USA), where the drug was discovered, have been working on molnupiravir since 2013. With the arrival of the pandemic, the active ingredient has been considered a potential broad-spectrum flu therapy and in the pre-clinical phase it blocked the transmission of Sars-Cov-2 in ferrets in 24 hours. Unlike the main vaccines currently administered against Covid-19, Merck & Co.’s drug does not target the highly mutagenic spike protein of the virus, and should therefore maintain constant efficacy regardless of variants. Molnupiravir acts againstto viral polymerase, an enzyme that the new coronavirus needs to replicate within the body. The drug was developed for introduce errors in the genetic code of the virus, thus preventing its duplication. The medicine blocks Sars-CoV-2 without calling into question the immune system.
4 How and when is it administered?
The drug should be administered orally, four pills a day for five days and particularly effective if used in the early stages of infection, within five days of the onset of symptoms. The time factor in the diagnosis seems to be fundamental, but getting to intercept the disease so quickly cannot be taken for granted: it is not said that a patient at the onset of symptoms (common to many other viral diseases) is immediately subjected to a swab.
5 How much will molnupiravir cost?
The cost for each course of therapy will be 700 dollars (620 dollars). The US government has already pledged to purchase 1.7 million treatments from Merck, for a total of $ 1.2 billion. The pharmaceutical company would have entered into agreements with some Indian companies for the low-cost distribution of the drug.
6 How safe?
The data reported are very encouraging and the incidence of adverse events was comparable in the drug and placebo groups. As is normally the case in the trials of certain categories of drugs, for precautionary reasons, the men and women who participated in the trial were asked to refrain from sexual intercourse for four days and all women were subjected to pregnancy tests (which had to be negative. ) before taking the medicine.
7 How will the availability of the pill affect vaccines?
There is no point in giving up a vaccine just because there is a drug to treat the disease. It is true that molnupiravir has been shown, according to the information released, to halve the risk of hospitalization or death, but vaccines in these cases are more than 90% effective, cost much less, have minimal and widely known side effects and do not need of an early diagnosis.
October 5, 2021 (change October 5, 2021 | 14:59)
© REPRODUCTION RESERVED
According to the company, Merck & Co.’s antiviral molnupiravir would halve the risk of death and hospitalization of unvaccinated Covid patients. The treatment will cost $ 700 and must be given within five days of the onset of symptoms to be effective
1 What is the molnupiravir pill?
It is a antiviral drug which in the phase 3 clinical study (on 775 patients) showed reduce the risk of hospitalization and death by 50 percent in adult patients with mild or moderate Covid (not vaccinated) but at risk of serious disease (due to obesity, old age, diabetes or cardiovascular disease). The new variants (Delta, Gamma and Mu) accounted for 80% of the cases evaluated. The results were announced a few days ago in a press release from the two companies that produced it: Msd, or Merck & Co. and Ridgeback Biotherapeutics. Based on these data, the companies will apply to the American Food and Drug Administration for authorization for emergency use. The news was enthusiastically received by scientists. The immunologist Anthony Fauci, a White House advisor on the pandemic, spoke of impressive results.
2 Why was the trial stopped?
The recruitment of volunteers has been suspended for manifest superiority of the drug compared to placebo: it is not ethically acceptable to deprive patients given placebo of the benefit deriving from the drug.
3 How does the drug work?
Researchers from Emory University in Atlanta (USA), where the drug was discovered, have been working on molnupiravir since 2013. With the arrival of the pandemic, the active ingredient has been considered a potential broad-spectrum flu therapy and in the pre-clinical phase it blocked the transmission of Sars-Cov-2 in ferrets in 24 hours. Unlike the main vaccines currently administered against Covid-19, Merck & Co.’s drug does not target the highly mutagenic spike protein of the virus, and should therefore maintain constant efficacy regardless of variants. Molnupiravir acts againstto viral polymerase, an enzyme that the new coronavirus needs to replicate within the body. The drug was developed for introduce errors in the genetic code of the virus, thus preventing its duplication. The medicine blocks Sars-CoV-2 without calling into question the immune system.
4 How and when is it administered?
The drug should be administered orally, four pills a day for five days and particularly effective if used in the early stages of infection, within five days of the onset of symptoms. The time factor in the diagnosis seems to be fundamental, but getting to intercept the disease so quickly cannot be taken for granted: it is not said that a patient at the onset of symptoms (common to many other viral diseases) is immediately subjected to a swab.
5 How much will molnupiravir cost?
The cost for each course of therapy will be 700 dollars (620 dollars). The US government has already pledged to purchase 1.7 million treatments from Merck, for a total of $ 1.2 billion. The pharmaceutical company would have entered into agreements with some Indian companies for the low-cost distribution of the drug.
6 How safe?
The data reported are very encouraging and the incidence of adverse events was comparable in the drug and placebo groups. As is normally the case in the trials of certain categories of drugs, for precautionary reasons, the men and women who participated in the trial were asked to refrain from sexual intercourse for four days and all women were subjected to pregnancy tests (which had to be negative. ) before taking the medicine.
7 How will the availability of the pill affect vaccines?
There is no point in giving up a vaccine just because there is a drug to treat the disease. It is true that molnupiravir has been shown, according to the information released, to halve the risk of hospitalization or death, but vaccines in these cases are more than 90% effective, cost much less, have minimal and widely known side effects and do not need of an early diagnosis.
October 5, 2021 (change October 5, 2021 | 14:59)
© REPRODUCTION RESERVED
According to the company, Merck & Co.’s antiviral molnupiravir would halve the risk of death and hospitalization of unvaccinated Covid patients. The treatment will cost $ 700 and must be given within five days of the onset of symptoms to be effective
1 What is the molnupiravir pill?
It is a antiviral drug which in the phase 3 clinical study (on 775 patients) showed reduce the risk of hospitalization and death by 50 percent in adult patients with mild or moderate Covid (not vaccinated) but at risk of serious disease (due to obesity, old age, diabetes or cardiovascular disease). The new variants (Delta, Gamma and Mu) accounted for 80% of the cases evaluated. The results were announced a few days ago in a press release from the two companies that produced it: Msd, or Merck & Co. and Ridgeback Biotherapeutics. Based on these data, the companies will apply to the American Food and Drug Administration for authorization for emergency use. The news was enthusiastically received by scientists. The immunologist Anthony Fauci, a White House advisor on the pandemic, spoke of impressive results.
2 Why was the trial stopped?
The recruitment of volunteers has been suspended for manifest superiority of the drug compared to placebo: it is not ethically acceptable to deprive patients given placebo of the benefit deriving from the drug.
3 How does the drug work?
Researchers from Emory University in Atlanta (USA), where the drug was discovered, have been working on molnupiravir since 2013. With the arrival of the pandemic, the active ingredient has been considered a potential broad-spectrum flu therapy and in the pre-clinical phase it blocked the transmission of Sars-Cov-2 in ferrets in 24 hours. Unlike the main vaccines currently administered against Covid-19, Merck & Co.’s drug does not target the highly mutagenic spike protein of the virus, and should therefore maintain constant efficacy regardless of variants. Molnupiravir acts againstto viral polymerase, an enzyme that the new coronavirus needs to replicate within the body. The drug was developed for introduce errors in the genetic code of the virus, thus preventing its duplication. The medicine blocks Sars-CoV-2 without calling into question the immune system.
4 How and when is it administered?
The drug should be administered orally, four pills a day for five days and particularly effective if used in the early stages of infection, within five days of the onset of symptoms. The time factor in the diagnosis seems to be fundamental, but getting to intercept the disease so quickly cannot be taken for granted: it is not said that a patient at the onset of symptoms (common to many other viral diseases) is immediately subjected to a swab.
5 How much will molnupiravir cost?
The cost for each course of therapy will be 700 dollars (620 dollars). The US government has already pledged to purchase 1.7 million treatments from Merck, for a total of $ 1.2 billion. The pharmaceutical company would have entered into agreements with some Indian companies for the low-cost distribution of the drug.
6 How safe?
The data reported are very encouraging and the incidence of adverse events was comparable in the drug and placebo groups. As is normally the case in the trials of certain categories of drugs, for precautionary reasons, the men and women who participated in the trial were asked to refrain from sexual intercourse for four days and all women were subjected to pregnancy tests (which had to be negative. ) before taking the medicine.
7 How will the availability of the pill affect vaccines?
There is no point in giving up a vaccine just because there is a drug to treat the disease. It is true that molnupiravir has been shown, according to the information released, to halve the risk of hospitalization or death, but vaccines in these cases are more than 90% effective, cost much less, have minimal and widely known side effects and do not need of an early diagnosis.
October 5, 2021 (change October 5, 2021 | 14:59)
© REPRODUCTION RESERVED
According to the company, Merck & Co.’s antiviral molnupiravir would halve the risk of death and hospitalization of unvaccinated Covid patients. The treatment will cost $ 700 and must be given within five days of the onset of symptoms to be effective
1 What is the molnupiravir pill?
It is a antiviral drug which in the phase 3 clinical study (on 775 patients) showed reduce the risk of hospitalization and death by 50 percent in adult patients with mild or moderate Covid (not vaccinated) but at risk of serious disease (due to obesity, old age, diabetes or cardiovascular disease). The new variants (Delta, Gamma and Mu) accounted for 80% of the cases evaluated. The results were announced a few days ago in a press release from the two companies that produced it: Msd, or Merck & Co. and Ridgeback Biotherapeutics. Based on these data, the companies will apply to the American Food and Drug Administration for authorization for emergency use. The news was enthusiastically received by scientists. The immunologist Anthony Fauci, a White House advisor on the pandemic, spoke of impressive results.
2 Why was the trial stopped?
The recruitment of volunteers has been suspended for manifest superiority of the drug compared to placebo: it is not ethically acceptable to deprive patients given placebo of the benefit deriving from the drug.
3 How does the drug work?
Researchers from Emory University in Atlanta (USA), where the drug was discovered, have been working on molnupiravir since 2013. With the arrival of the pandemic, the active ingredient has been considered a potential broad-spectrum flu therapy and in the pre-clinical phase it blocked the transmission of Sars-Cov-2 in ferrets in 24 hours. Unlike the main vaccines currently administered against Covid-19, Merck & Co.’s drug does not target the highly mutagenic spike protein of the virus, and should therefore maintain constant efficacy regardless of variants. Molnupiravir acts againstto viral polymerase, an enzyme that the new coronavirus needs to replicate within the body. The drug was developed for introduce errors in the genetic code of the virus, thus preventing its duplication. The medicine blocks Sars-CoV-2 without calling into question the immune system.
4 How and when is it administered?
The drug should be administered orally, four pills a day for five days and particularly effective if used in the early stages of infection, within five days of the onset of symptoms. The time factor in the diagnosis seems to be fundamental, but getting to intercept the disease so quickly cannot be taken for granted: it is not said that a patient at the onset of symptoms (common to many other viral diseases) is immediately subjected to a swab.
5 How much will molnupiravir cost?
The cost for each course of therapy will be 700 dollars (620 dollars). The US government has already pledged to purchase 1.7 million treatments from Merck, for a total of $ 1.2 billion. The pharmaceutical company would have entered into agreements with some Indian companies for the low-cost distribution of the drug.
6 How safe?
The data reported are very encouraging and the incidence of adverse events was comparable in the drug and placebo groups. As is normally the case in the trials of certain categories of drugs, for precautionary reasons, the men and women who participated in the trial were asked to refrain from sexual intercourse for four days and all women were subjected to pregnancy tests (which had to be negative. ) before taking the medicine.
7 How will the availability of the pill affect vaccines?
There is no point in giving up a vaccine just because there is a drug to treat the disease. It is true that molnupiravir has been shown, according to the information released, to halve the risk of hospitalization or death, but vaccines in these cases are more than 90% effective, cost much less, have minimal and widely known side effects and do not need of an early diagnosis.
October 5, 2021 (change October 5, 2021 | 14:59)
© REPRODUCTION RESERVED