The subject has been mentioned, even hovered over, without being explained.
But what was Emmanuel Macron talking about, this Tuesday, November 9, when he briefly announced, during his speech, the arrival of a “new weapon” against the Covid?
“It is because France very early on focused on research into treatments, which we were able to order very early on, that we will benefit, from the end of the year, from the first truly effective treatments against the severe forms. of Covid-19 ”, swept the President of the Republic, lapidary.
What to restore hope after a long series of failures, from hydroxychloroquine to remdesivir.
Doses delivered in France at the end of November or the beginning of December
In fact, the president is referring to two antiviral pills.
The first, Molnupiravir from the American laboratory Merck, to be swallowed once tested positive for Covid, allows people at risk to avoid a serious form of the disease.
“This is an experimental drug, initially developed against influenza, explains Professor Frédéric Adnet, the emergency manager of the Avicenne hospital in Bobigny (Seine-Saint-Denis) and researcher at Inserm, expert in clinical tests.
It blocks the multiplication of the virus ”.
France has already ordered enough to treat 50,000 patients, even if this remedy has yet to be validated by the European Medicines Agency.
The doses "will be delivered from the last days of November or the first days of December", recently specified Olivier Véran, the Minister of Health.
Second tablet in sight, Pfizer's Paxlovid, the results of which were disclosed, as for its competitor, by a press release.
A few days ago, the American drug giant announced an effectiveness of 89% in the prevention of severe forms, in people at risk.
Asked in Le Parisien, in July, on this subject, Professor Jean-François Delfraissy, president of the scientific council on Covid-19, was one of the first to announce: "We should have treatment with fall to manage this fourth wave ”.
It will finally be for the fifth shock and rather this winter.
We can thus add to the triptych “test-trace-isolate”, the word “treat”, he told us.