The antiviral drug remdesivir, currently the only drug with full Food and Drug Administration approval to treat Covid-19, also has to be delivered into the bloodstream.Ī drug like molnupiravir (the name is a reference to Thor’s hammer, Mjölnir) could also help compensate for persistent gaps in Covid-19 vaccination coverage, both in the United States and abroad. It’s administered as a twice-a-day batch of four pills for five days, compared to other Covid-19 treatments that require expensive intravenous transfusions, such as monoclonal antibodies and convalescent plasma. Molnupiravir, originally developed to treat influenza, could solve many of these challenges. Meanwhile, treatments that have little evidence behind them, like the antiparasitic drug ivermectin and the anti-malaria drug hydroxychloroquine, have gained traction in some circles. While there are a number of treatments for Covid-19 on the market, many of them are expensive, difficult to administer, not widely available, or only marginally effective. Davis, CEO and president of Merck, in a statement.Ī new and effective Covid-19 treatment - if approved by health regulators - could be a versatile tool for doctors to treat Covid-19 patients and could ultimately save lives. “The extraordinary impact of this pandemic demands that we move with unprecedented urgency, and that is what our teams have done by submitting this application for molnupiravir to the FDA within 10 days of receiving the data,” said Robert M. Based on the approval timeline for past Covid-19 drugs, the FDA could make a decision within days or weeks.Ĭlinical trials showed that the drug reduced the risk of hospitalization and death in at-risk patients by 50 percent, according to the company’s interim analysis. On Monday, Merck filed for an emergency use authorization from the FDA, which would allow doctors to begin prescribing the drug. The Food and Drug Administration may soon authorize the first pill to treat Covid-19 after the pharmaceutical giant Merck reported strong results from its antiviral drug molnupiravir earlier this month.

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