Merck’s first antiviral pill against Covid for non-serious patients, via oral intake at home with 5 days of treatment, prevents hospitalizations. Not an alternative to the vaccine and distributed to the Regions. This is how molnupiravir works and is distributed
From today available in Italy the first specific antiviral against SARS-CoV-2, the Merck’s pill called molnupiravir (trade name Lagevrio). After the go-ahead from the Technical Scientific Commission of the Italian Medicines Agency (Aifa) in the session of 22 December, the drug was distributed today by the Commissioner Structure to the Regions and for its prescription the use of a monitoring register will be used which will soon be accessible online on the Aifa website.
The first two patients to receive the pill in Italy – at the Spallanzani hospital in Rome – were a 91 year old with heart disease and diabetes and a 72 year old with heart disease and immunosuppression, both with mild symptoms at the beginning.
The packages delivered were 11,899, of which 360 in Abruzzo, 60 in Basilicata, 120 in Calabria, 480 in Campania, 840 in Emilia Romagna, 240 in Friuli Venezia Giulia, 1,680 in Lazio, 1,080 in Liguria, 1,800 in Lombardy, 600 in Marche, 60 in Molise, 739 in Piedmont, 120 in Trentino-Alto Adige, 240 in Puglia, 60 in Sardinia, 360 in Sicily, 1,440 in Tuscany, 60 in Umbria, 120 in Valle d’Aosta, 1,440 in Veneto.
Who can receive it and how
The medicine authorized for the treatment of Covid-19 patients not hospitalized with recent onset of mild to moderate disease and with underlying clinical conditions that may represent specific risk factors for the development of severe Covid-19.
Molnupiravir is an oral antiviral that must be taken in case of positive Covid within 5 days of the onset of symptoms.
The treatment lasts 5 days and consists of 4 capsules (800 mg total) to be taken twice daily. Its use not recommended in pregnancy and breastfeeding should be discontinued during treatment and for 4 days after treatment. Prevents hospitalizations.
Who distributes it
Access to molnupiravir follows the same flow as monoclonal antibodies – he explains Filippo Drago, expert of the Italian Society of Pharmacology (SIF) -. THE patients are selected by general practitioners or from hospitals. The Regions decide how to distribute it: presumably at the beginning the drug will be present in hospital pharmacies, later in authorized pharmacies. It shouldn’t cost the patient anything. There may be some Regions that will require preliminary investigations (as a swab and possible demonstration of fragility).
How does it work
Molnupiravir produces changes in the genetic material (Rna) of the virus during replication so that it is unable to multiply. According to the manufacturers (the American pharmaceutical giant Merck Sharp & Dohme in partnership with Ridgeback Biotherapeutics) the pill it does not affect the spike protein of Covid for this reason its effectiveness would be guaranteed regardless of the variants present and future. There are two problems with the drug in question: effectiveness in preventing hospitalizations low and decreased over time when the data of the Phase 3 study were specified. From the initial 50% reduction in deaths and hospitalizations we reached 30% regarding the data of all participants enrolled in the trial (1,433 patients). Some states have decided to review purchase orders for the medicine.
The other difficulty is to administer the drug on time: it must be taken within 5 days of the onset of symptoms, but getting to intercept the disease so quickly is not 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, especially at a time like this where the processed swabs continue to increase.
It does not replace the vaccine, that’s why
For people considered at risk, the drug may offer an extra weapon. Not an alternative to vaccination, however, not only because of its low efficacy, but also because, like other drugs, has a limited duration of action: the concentration of the active ingredients is lowered and, after a couple of days, the medicine will have disappeared from the body. The vaccine, on the other hand, acts on the immune system, which, after being trained, can fight the virus for months.
In case you are part of certain categories of people who do not respond well to immunization and therefore, although to a lesser extent than the unvaccinated, may run the risk of worsening with Covid, molnupiravir can be very useful.
The stages and the arrival of the Pfizer pill
It was the first pill indicated for the treatment of coronavirus infection to be registered. The British regulatory agency (MHRA) first authorized it on 4 November. Distribution of the second antiviral authorized by the European Medicines Agency (EMA), the Paxlovid patented by Pfizer, which works and is taken in a similar way to the Merck pill but, according to the most recent tests carried out by the company, is 89% effective.
January 4, 2022 (change January 4, 2022 | 18:30)
© Time.News