RT: Maria Van Kerkhove, Head ai Emerging Diseases and Zoonosis at the World Health Organization (WHO), speaks during a press conference on the situation of the coronavirus at the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, January 29, 2020.
Denis Balibouse | Reuters
Merck’s announcement that its experimental antiviral pill will be effective against the most severe effects of Covid-19 is “certainly good news,” a World Health Organization official said Tuesday as the international agency awaits clinical trial data on the drug.
“We look forward to receiving the data from you,” said Maria Van Kerkhove, WHO technical director for Covid, during a virtual question and answer session. “I think everyone wants earlier treatment so we can prevent people from actually getting this severe condition and actually dying from the disease.”
The U.S. drugmaker said Friday that the drug – known as molnupiravir – had shown in a Phase III study that it reduced the risk of hospitalization or death in adults with mild to moderate cases of Covid by about 50%. lowers. It works by stopping the virus from multiplying in the body.
Unlike Gilead Sciences’ intravenous drug Remdesivir, Merck’s molnupiravir can be taken orally. If approved by the Food and Drug Administration, it would be the first pill to treat Covid, a potentially groundbreaking advance in the fight against the virus, which kills an average of more than 1,700 Americans a day.
While vaccinations remain the best form of protection against the virus, health experts hope a pill like Merck’s will prevent disease progression in those who become infected and prevent trips to hospital.
Pills like Merck’s are considered a kind of “holy grail” for treatments, said Dr. Mike Ryan, executive director of WHO’s Emergency Health Program. He said the agency is still waiting to see raw clinical trial data on the drug.
“If you can stop the virus before it makes someone very sick, then it’s a game changer in that sense,” he said.
Other drug manufacturers are also working on antiviral pills. Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla told CNBC in April that one of Pfizer, who developed BioNTech’s first approved Covid vaccine in the US, could be available by the end of this year.
Ryan also said world leaders and public health officials should also think about how much the drug could cost patients. According to The New York Times, five days of treatment with the drug costs the federal government about $ 700 per patient, one-third of the current cost of monoclonal antibodies.
“The cost of treating millions of people early could be significant and worth the investment, but we need to see how that will work,” said Ryan.
