The US authorizes Merck’s pill against covid, although it warns of possible side effects

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) authorized this Thursday the emergency use of the pill against COVID from the US pharmaceutical company Merck. The FDA announced its decision in a statement and specified that the pill can be used to treat moderate cases of covid in adults who have tested positive, who are at high risk of being hospitalized or dying from the disease and who have not been able to access other treatments. authorized by the US authorities.

The drug, molnupiravir, received emergency authorization just after Pfizer’s Paxlovid pill was also approved Wednesday. Together, the treatments promise to provide a new way to prevent a surge in cases from collapsing American hospitals.

Molnupiravir is intended to treat COVID in non-hospitalized persons 18 years of age or older at risk of developing serious illness. One study showed that it reduced the risk of hospitalization or death among adults with mild to moderate disease by 30%.

Possible risks

Molnupiravir works by introducing errors into the genetic material of the virus to stop its replication of the virus, but it can affect the growth of human cells. The FDA said that pregnant people should be informed of the potential risks to the fetus before receiving the drug.

In November, an FDA external advisory panel debated whether the drug was safe for widespread use. Some expressed concern that it could lead to mutations in the virus that could make it more dangerous or transmissible, or that it could pose risks to pregnant people, and that its low efficacy in the clinical trial meant that its risks outweighed its benefits. In the end, a divided panel voted to back the treatment by a narrow margin. Merck has said that molnupiravir has no long-term risks.