Covid-19 drug shows promising results

In parallel with vaccines, laboratories are looking to design drugs against Covid-19. Oral antiviral therapy shows encouraging results.

If the vaccines have now been available for several months, the search for a treatment for Covid-19 continues. And it is even making progress, as the Merck and Ridgeback Biotherapeutics laboratories announced on Saturday, relays AFP. Together, they designed an oral antiviral drug that shows positive effects.

This drug, molnupiravir, significantly reduced the viral load of patients after five days of treatment. These trials represent phase 2a of the test, which requires three before possible marketing. They were carried out on 202 people with Covid-19 and showing symptoms, but not being hospitalized. There would have been no safety alert, and Ridgeback Biotherapeutics indicates that "out of the four serious incidents reported, none was considered in connection with the drug studied". For William Fischer, one of the study directors and professor of medicine at the University of North Carolina, the results "are promising". "Knowing that there is an unmet need for antiviral treatments for SARS-CoV-2, we are encouraged by these preliminary results", added Wendy Painter, head of drugs at the American laboratory.

At the same time, Merck is working on another treatment, the MK-711. At the end of January, the pharmaceutical group indicated that the first results of clinical trials showed a reduction of more than 50% in the risk of death or respiratory failure for hospitalized patients with moderate to severe forms of Covid-19.

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Video by Benjamine Rombhot

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Melody Capronnier

Every day, aufeminin's editorial staff addresses millions of women and supports them in all stages of their lives. The aufeminin editorial staff is made up of committed editors and …