Emergency Antiviral Molnupiravir Approved For Use
Last updated on July 12th, 2021 at 04:28 am
Merc & Co. has developed an antiviral drug for which Hetero Labs has sought an emergency nod from the Indian medicine regulators and has received the go-ahead. The drug Molnupiravir has shown after interim data from a late-stage trial has shown that it helped reduce hospitalizations and speed up recovery in mild cases.
Apparently, Merck had already tapped several Indian generic drugmakers between March and April 2021. This includes Cipla and Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories. The intent was to get help to expand the drug’s production and conduct trials, hastening its availability in India to address the second wave of infections.
Hetero confirmed that observed data showed the antiviral drug resulted in statistically significant fewer hospital admissions, faster recovery time, and early negative SARS-CoV-2 RT PCR results.
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While India has managed the second wave bravely, it has lost a huge number of lives in the metro cities. The third wave is expected to hit sooner than October, due to a lot of people have moved out of their homes and traveling in areas of India for tourism.
Molnupiravir is currently being tested in a global late-stage study by Merck and partner Ridgeback, with the trial data expected in the fall of 2021.
Merck &Co. has already entered partnerships with the pharmaceuticals that have given these companies license to make and supply Molnupiravir to India and more than 100 low- and middle-income countries after approvals or emergency authorizations by local regulatory agencies, Merck said in late April.
