The United Kingdom is the first country in the world to give the green light to the antiviral drug molnupiravir manufactured by Merck & Co (MSD outside the United States and Canada)
The UK has approved the use of the anti-Covid pill molnupiravir
, produced by Merck & Co (MSD outside the United States and Canada) in partnership with Ridgeback Biotherapeutics. the first country in the world to give the green light to the antiviral drug to treat Covid-19.
La Mhra, theUK Medicines Agency, authorized the pill to treat mild to moderate disease in adults who have tested positive for Coronavirus and have at least one risk factor for developing severe disease. Molnupiravir is currently under review by other international regulatory bodies, such as the US FDA and the Euroepa EMA.
Today is a historic day for our country (in the fight against the pandemic, ed) because the UK becomes the first country in the world to have approved an antiviral against Covid-19 that can be taken at home, said Sajid Javid, health minister in the Boris Johnson government.
What is it about
Molnupiravir is an antiviral drug which in the phase 3 clinical study (performed in 775 patients) showed halve the risk of hospitalization and death in adult patients with mild and moderate Covid who were not vaccinated and were at risk of developing a severe form of the disease. 80% of the cases examined are of people infected with the variants (Delta, Gamma and Mu). Results that had been defined by the same immunologist Anthony Fauci, a consultant to the White House for the pandemic, impressive and that had led to the suspension of the recruitment of volunteers for the superiority of the drug over placebo.
How the drug works
Researchers at Emory University in Atlanta (United States) have been working on molnupiravir since 2013. The arrival of Covid has suggested that the active ingredient of the drug could be a potential anti-flu therapy on a broad spectrum and in the pre-clinical phase it blocked in 24 hours transmission of Sars-Cov-2 in ferrets. Contrary to the main vaccines currently administered against Covid-19, as Cristina Marrone explained, the Merck & Co. drug does not target the highly mutagenic spike protein of the virus, and should therefore maintain constant efficacy regardless of variants.
Molnupiravir acts against viral polymerase, an enzyme that the new coronavirus needs to replicate inside our body. The drug was therefore designed to introduce errors into the genetic code of the virus, preventing its duplication. The medicine blocks Sars-CoV-2 without having to resort to the work of the immune system.
The administration
The drug is administered orally, they are four pills a day for five days and is effective when used in the early stages of the infection: time seems to be a key factor. Each course of therapy will cost $ 700.
November 4, 2021 (change November 4, 2021 | 13:38)
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