HEALTH NEWS
Merck’s Covid-19 pill could reduce deaths, hospitalisations by half
Finally, looks like a game-changing pill for Covid-19 is here! As per the data experts, an experimental antiviral pill developed by Merck & Co could halve the chances of dying or being hospitalized for those most at risk of contracting severe Covid-19.
If it gets authorization, molnupiravir would be the first oral antiviral medication for Covid-19.
It is designed introduce errors into the genetic code of the virus.
Merck and partner Ridgeback Biotherapeutics said they plan to seek US emergency use authorization for the pill as soon as possible and to make regulatory applications worldwide.
“An oral antiviral that can impact hospitalization risk to such a degree would be game-changing,” said Amesh Adalja, senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security.