蜜芽传媒

Molnupiravir, developed by the US drug companies Merck, Sharp and Dohme (MSD) and Ridgeback Biotherapeutics, is the first antiviral medication for Covid which can be taken as a pill rather than injected or given intravenously. The pill inhibits the virus's ability to replicate itself, which ensures the virus cannot survive in human cells for long. A course of treatment lasts five days. It has been approved by the UK medicines regulator, and formal approval by the US Food and Drug Administration is expected later in the year. The drug company Pfizer have also developed a pill, which they say is 89% effective in high risk cases. Pfizer said it plans to submit interim trial results for its pill to the US medicines regulator, the FDA, as part of the emergency use application it started last month.

Professor Srinath Reddy, an epidemiologist and president of the Public Health Foundation of India, describes how the molnupiravir pill works and says that a five-day treatment is currently priced at $700. However, Merck, the makers of the pill, have signed a royalty-free licensing agreement which could expand global access. This agreement should ensure that the pill can be made by multiple manufacturers, promising "abundant production" at low cost in low and middle-income countries. He also says the pill should not be seen as a substitute for vaccination, which lowers the chances of transmission and boosts the body's immune system.

"If we have this drug being made available by multiple companies across the world, I think there will be abundant production to keep the global supply chain intact and prices low."

This is a treatment for the virus itself, but should not be seen as a substitute for vaccination, which lowers the chances of transmission and boosts the body's immune system.

Photo: The Covid-19 treatment pill molnupiravir as seen during development Credit: Reuters

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