Merck's COVID-19 Antiviral Drug Doesn't Reduce Hospitalization
Source: (
https://bit.ly/3Ikcbol)
The COVID-19 antiviral drug Molnupiravir helps speed up recovery
from the virus but does not reduce the hospitalization or death rate
in higher-risk vaccinated adults, a new study has found.
Molnupiravir, from Ridgeback Biotherapeutics and Merck & Co. is
used to treat mild to moderate COVID-19 and can be taken at home,
twice a day for five days, within five days of symptoms onset.
It works by stopping the virus from replicating, keeping levels low
in the body, thus reducing its severity.
The study was published in The Lancet (
https://bit.ly/3GeykSm)
on Dec. 22 and has been peer reviewed.
Between Dec. 8, 2021 and April 27, 2022, more than 25,700 eligible
participants in the UK aged 50 or older - or 18 or older with
relevant comorbidities - who had been unwell with confirmed
COVID-19 for five days or less took part in the study, which was
conducted when the Omicron variant was dominant.
Half of the participants were randomly assigned to receive an 800
milligram dose of Molnupiravir twice daily for five days and the
other half were assigned to receive usual hospital care only.
The mean age of participants was 56.6 years and 94 percent had
received at least three doses of a SARS-CoV-2 vaccine.
