Cassandra Willyard

Source: Nature

The pharmaceutical firm Merck announced last week that an antiviral pill it’s developing can cut hospitalizations and deaths among people with COVID-19 by half. The results haven’t yet been peer reviewed. But if the drug candidate, molnupiravir, is authorized by regulators, it would be the first oral antiviral treatment for COVID-19. By contrast, the other currently authorized drugs must be delivered intravenously or injected.

A pill could make treating patients earlier on in their infection much easier — and more effective. It could also keep hospitals from overflowing, especially in places where vaccination rates are still low, such as many low- and lower-middle-income countries. Molnupiravir was so effective in a phase 3 trial involving COVID-19-positive people at risk of severe illness that clinicians halted enrolment early.

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