Is molnupiravir a useful drug for COVID-19?

The COVID-19 crisis has caused havoc all over the world, resulting in substantial loss-of-life, health as well as financial costs. The roll out from the vaccination strategy has provided some light at the end of the tunnel and as the vaccination strategy spreads out, countries around the entire world are starting to open up. The ending of lockdowns is not without its pitfalls and you will find increases in cases when different locations decrease restrictions. The vaccine roll out has diminished the potential risks for the severity of the illness and also decreased the risk of being hospitalised and loss of life in those who are vaccinated. Infections continue to be occurring in the vaccinated, although the vast majority and also the more serious ones are in those who are not vaccinated. The health system seems to have better with managing individuals with a coronovirus infection as the understanding about the disease increases and more treatments are explored. Various treatments currently have various degrees of data that back the approaches and there are already numerous false starts using just what seems to be encouraging therapies do not give the benefits which were believed. Lots of misinformation and bad science additionally underpins the therapy statements for COVID-19. There is certainly the need for much more definite treatment methods and guidelines. The need for doctors to have far more resources and treatments are urgently needed to deal with the COVID-19 outbreak. A number of medicines are in clinical trials.

On 1st October 2021, the pharmaceutical firm Merck put out a press release launching the end result from a medical trial with the anti-viral medicine, molnupiravir for individuals with a coronavirus infection. The management committee for the medical trial stopped the study early as the results were considered so good. will now be applying for an emergency usage approval from the Federal Drug Administration. Within the medical trial, 775 individuals that had minor to moderate COVID-19 were to getting molnupiravir or a control drug. In the group getting the molnupiravir clearly there was decreased chance of a hospital stay or death by around half. 7.3% of those that received molnupiravir had been either put in the hospital or died through day twenty nine after starting the drug in contrast to 14.1% of inactive drug people. day 29 of the study, not any deaths ended up noted in patients who were on the molnupiravir, as compared to 8 fatalities in individuals that received the inactive drug. The results have already been extensively in the press. While the final results look outstanding, much more research and medical knowledge about the usage of the medication is required. The USA Department of Health and Human Services has committed to buy 1.7 million of the prescription drug for US$1.2 billion worth when it was authorized by the FDA. The drug company is expecting to supply about 10 million doses of the medicine by December of 2021, with much more most likely to be produced . Merck have also committed to implementing a variable charging strategy based on the World Bank country income criteria to reflect countries’ relative ability to finance their health response to the epidemic. They have also entered into accreditation contracts with recognized generic makers to accelerate the production of the medication in more than a hundred lower income nations around the world.