The battle against the coronavirus does not stop and from front laboratories good news arrives. The pharmaceutical giant Merck & Co. – known outside the United States under the acronym MSD – he communicated in one official note who will ask the FDA (Food and Drug Administration, the American government agency that deals with the regulation of food and pharmaceutical products) the authorization for the emergency use of the molnupiravir antiviral pill for the treatment of Covid.
The company, in fact, has announced that it has interrupted Phase 3 clinical trial early under the excellent results obtained (Studies are suspended early in agreement with the FDA when the data is clearly positive and for ethical reasons the drug cannot be denied to all patients, or otherwise): 7.3% of molnupiravir-treated patients are deceased or were hospitalized, compared to 14.1% for patients treated instead with placebo.
This means a reduction of about 50% of the more serious consequences of Covid-19. The effectiveness – experts say – increases considerably if the Merck pill is taken during the early stages of infection, thus blocking the replicate of the coronavirus: it is an oral medication, it should be taken four times a day for five days, but precisely the time factor in diagnosis it remains fundamental (and rapid diagnosis, in some countries, is not taken for granted).
Molnupiravir was in fact studied for Covid positive patients within the first five days from the onset of symptoms, which also present at least a “risk factor” such as old age, obesity or diabetes. But there is more: the innovative tablet does not target the proteina spike of the virus, highly mutagenic, but it acts contror viral polymerase (an enzyme that the coronavirus needs to replicate) and therefore seems to maintain constant efficacy regardless of variants.
In short, the arrival of an antiviral pill (easily administrable compared to monoclonal) in addition to a massive one vaccination coverage, would represent a milestone in the battle against pandemic.
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