Pill To Treat COVID-19 Cuts Death Risk By Half

A pill has cut the risk of hospitalization or death from COVID-19 by half in a study, Merck and Ridgeback Biotherapeutics said Friday, Travis Caldwell and Naomi Thomas reported for CNN.

Photo Insert: molnupiravir

It would become the first oral medicine that fights viral infection for COVID-19 if approved by the US Food and Drug Administration for emergency use authorization.

Also on Friday, California Gov. Gavin Newsom said his state will become the nation's first to require COVID-19 vaccinations for students. The mandate will be a condition of in-person attendance for the 6 million students in the state's public schools.

Independent study is an option for those unvaccinated, Newsom's office said in a release. Previously required are vaccines against diseases such as diptheria, polio, measles, mumps, and chicken pox. In August, the state required all school staff to either show proof of Covid vaccination or submit to weekly testing.

"At the interim analysis, molnupiravir reduced the risk of hospitalization or death by approximately 50%," Merck said in a news release. "7.3% of patients who received molnupiravir were either hospitalized or died through Day 29 following randomization (28/385), compared with 14.1% of placebo-treated patients (53,377). Through Day 29, no deaths were reported in patients who received molnupiravir, as compared to 8 deaths in patients who received placebo."

Merck said it will seek FDA emergency use authorization "as soon as possible."

Molnupiravir is not a vaccine. It is an oral antiviral, and experts have said developing such a drug could be the next chance to thwart COVID-19.

A short-term regimen of daily pills would aim to fight the virus early after diagnosis and prevent symptoms from developing after exposure. Merck has been producing doses while awaiting the study results and expects to produce 10 million by the end of the year.

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