The UK health authorities have approved the use of the first antiviral pill against Covid-19, molnupiravir, that can be used in patients who have tested positive and who have at least one risk factor for developing a serious disease.
The Medicines Regulatory Agency considered in a statement that the medicine is “safe and effective in reducing the risk of hospital admission and death in people with mild to moderate Covid who are at extra risk. “
The British Minister of Health, Sayid Javid, stressed that it is a “historic day” for the United Kingdom, as it has become “The first country in the world to approve an antiviral for Covid that you can take home.”
This drug is recommended, for example, for obese people, over 60 years old and patients with diabetes or heart problems. The MHRA indicated that the drug should be given immediately after testing positive for COVID or within five days of confirmation of infection.
Regulators’ recommendation is that the pill, originally developed to treat the flu, be taken by these vulnerable people twice a day.
Molnupiravir has been developed by the American pharmaceutical companies Merck and Ridgeback Biotherapeutic, and it is the first drug for the treatment of Covid that can be taken in pill form instead of an injection.
The drug attacks an enzyme that the virus uses to make copies of itself, so its multiplication is prevented and the viral load is kept at low levels in the body, thereby reducing the severity of the disease.
The CEO of the British regulator, June Raine, called the drug “another therapy for our armor against Covid-19”, and added that its approval is important because it can be taken outside of the hospital setting.
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