Covid pill cuts risk of death by half, early trials suggest

An antiviral drug originally developed to treat influenza reduces hospitalization and death from Covid-19 by 50 per cent in patients recently infected with the virus, the results of early trials suggest.

- SAMUEL LOVETT ZOE TIDMAN

Consumed as a pill, it is hoped the drug will play a major role in treating those who test positive for Covid by preventing their infection culminating in severe disease.

The drug, known as molnupiravir, is manufactured by the American pharmaceutical giant Merck, which said it intends to apply for emergency use authorization in the US within the next two weeks.

In the UK, the chair of the antivirals taskforce has hinted at the government’s interest in buying supplies of the drug, given its potential in keeping infected people out of the hospital.

“We are involved in looking closely at all of the options available, but we’re really not in a position to give out the details around specific conversations at this moment in time,” taskforce chairperson Eddie Gray told a briefing after Merck’s results were published.

Molnupiravir works by interfering with an enzyme that the virus uses to replicate, thereby preventing it from further spreading throughout the body.