The COVID Antiviral Pill Could Pull Hospitals Back From the Brink
If data on molnupiravir hold up to scrutiny and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration authorizes it, the pill could help relieve overcrowded hospitals all over America.
via Reuters
Good news, maybe. There’s finally a pill for COVID—and it seems to work pretty well.
Molnupiravir, a co-development of New Jersey-based Merck and Ridgeback Biotherapeutics in Florida, is the first COVID antiviral medication in pill form. Merck and Ridgeback plan to submit their data to the FDA for possible authorization, though it’s unclear how quickly the agency might act. The FDA didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
Taken orally, the drug appears to halve the risk of hospitalization and slash the risk of death from serious COVID. “I’m pretty excited about these results,” Leila Hojat, an expert in infectious diseases at University Hospitals in Cleveland, told The Daily Beast.