It will be used from December in France, where orders to treat 50,000 patients have been placed.
Molnupiravir, sold in capsule form by the Merck laboratory, is used to limit the risk of severe form in patients infected with Covid-19.
But the final data, communicated this Friday by the laboratory, are rather disappointing.
According to this study, 48 of the 709 patients who received the treatment and 78 of the 699 patients included in the placebo group were hospitalized or died after being infected.
The risk is therefore reduced by 30% if the drug is taken.
However, the results of an intermediate analysis (on a sample half the size), published on October 1, resulted in an efficiency of 48%.
“30% is better than nothing, but it's disappointing.
And we can not exclude that, in real life, this product is even less effective!
», Reacts Mahmoud Zureik, professor of epidemiology and public health at the University of Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines and director of the Epi-Phare group.
EMA decision expected within "a few weeks"
Another element is however rather reassuring.
Again, the frequency of side effects was not greater in one group than in the other.
Read alsoCovid-19: why the Merck pill cannot replace vaccines
As a reminder, Molnupiravir is an antiviral which decreases the capacity of SARS-CoV-2 to multiply by “disrupting” its genetic material.
Marketed under the name Lagevrio, it can already be used by European countries that wish it in the event of a strong epidemic wave, as is the case today.
The European Medicines Agency (EMA) said on Tuesday that it would make its final decision within "a few weeks" concerning its marketing to the European Union.
In the United States, it costs about $ 600 per patient to treat, at two doses per day for five days.