If approved, molnupiravir would become the first administered powder approved for the treatment of covid-19, CNN. The decision should be made within a few weeks.
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Merck and Ridgeback Biotherapeutics is currently applying for permission to use the drug to treat infected people who are at risk of a more severe covid-19 or hospitalization. This was done on the basis of clinical trials, which had such excellent results. The doctors administered the molnupiravir tablet to test people infected with covid-19 for five days, twice every 24 hours. The control group was then given a placebo.
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The results showed that only 7.3 percent of people taking the drug required hospitalization. In the placebo-treated control group, it was 14.1 percent. “In an ongoing analysis, molnupiravir reduced the potential risk of hospitalization or death by 50 percent,” the company said in a statement. “By day 29, no deaths had been reported in patients receiving molnupiravir. Eight deaths were reported in people receiving placebo. None of the participants was vaccinated during the monitored period, “it continues.
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Merck also said today that by the end of 2021, the company could supply tablets to 10 million patients. Others would follow in 2022. A dose for 1.7 million patients, for example, has already been purchased by the US government. Producer prices will adjust to be affordable for people around the world, including from developing and poor countries, he adds.
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