Advances in treatments against covid-19 0:59
(CNN) -
The UK Medicines and Health Products Regulatory Agency said Thursday that it had licensed Merck and Ridgeback Biotherapeutics' oral antiviral, molnupiravir, to treat mild to moderate COVID-19 cases in adults at risk of serious illness.
It is the first oral antiviral in the world authorized for the treatment of covid-19.
The drug comes in capsule form and will be known as Lagevrio.
The antiviral has not yet been licensed for use elsewhere.
The companies have applied for emergency use authorization from the FDA in the US.
On November 30, the FDA's Drug Advisory Committee will meet to discuss molnupiravir's ability to treat mild to moderate COVID-19 in adults at risk of serious illness, including hospitalization or death.
Merck and Ridgeback also say that the European Medicines Agency has started a continuous review of its marketing application.
Merck requests an emergency use authorization from the FDA for molnupiravir, the experimental antiviral against covid-19
Merck announced last month that the capsule cut the risk of hospitalization or death from COVID-19 in half.
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“In the interim analysis, molnupiravir reduced the risk of hospitalization or death by approximately 50%;
7.3% of patients receiving molnupiravir were hospitalized or died by day 29 after randomization (28/385), compared with 14.1% of patients treated with placebo (53,377), ”said the company in a press release in October.
"As of day 29, no deaths were reported in patients who received molnupiravir, compared with 8 deaths in patients who received placebo."
Their data has not yet been peer-reviewed or published.
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