December 24 (Reuters) – The U.S. drug regulator on Thursday urgently approved the antiviral treatment for COVID-19 developed by Merck, allowing its use in adults at high risk of developing a severe form of the disease.
This is the second oral treatment, which can therefore be carried out at home, approved by the FDA, which on Wednesday gave its approval for the use of Pfizer’s treatment, which is more effective than that of Merck according to the results of clinical trials.
Named molnupiravir, the treatment, designed to be started as soon as possible upon diagnosis of COVID-19, reduces the risk of hospitalization and death by around 30% for people even developing a severe form of the disease, showed a clinical trial carried out by the laboratory.
This is an additional option in the fight against the health crisis in the United States, even as the Omicron variant has become the majority in the country with clear speed and has caused a resurgence of the epidemic.
Merck plans to deliver hundreds of thousands of treatments over the next few days and then 1 million over the next few weeks.
(Report Manas Mishra, Ankur Banerjee Bangalore, Carl O’Donnell New York; French version Jean Terzian)