COVID-19 Pill Succeeds in Key Study

A COVID-19 pill intended to work like Tamiflu succeeded in a pivotal trial, a big step toward providing at-home treatment for those experiencing serious symptoms.

Merck & Co. and its partner Ridgeback Biotherapeutics said their experimental pill helped to prevent high-risk people from becoming seriously sick and dying, cutting the risk of hospitalization or death by about 50 percent.

As reported by the Wall Street Journal, the drug, called molnupiravir, was performing so well in its late-stage trial that Merck and Ridgeback stopped enrolling subjects.

The results put the pill on track to potential FDA authorization by the end of the year. If cleared by regulators, the pill would be the first oral antiviral option on the market.

The pill would work like Tamiflu but for COVID-19.

“The ability to take what is a devastating disease like covid-19 and potentially make it a manageable situation through what is a very convenient round of administration, which is an oral pill you can take at home, has important implications for the ability to manage the ongoing pandemic,” Chief Executive Rob Davis said.

Merck said it expects to produce 10 million courses of the treatment by the end of the year, and plans to make the pill available globally.

“You will now have an oral, easily accessible, easily distributed medicine to keep people out of the hospital and to keep them from dying,” Wayne Holman, co-founder of Ridgeback, said.