HOPE DEFERRED

With the pandemic near endemicity, an effective and widely available treatment for COVID-19 would be a significant breakthrough for managing the viral infection. Are we there yet? TARAN DEOL, NEW DELHI

- TARAN DEOL

THE FIGHT against COVID-19 has reached a turning point with the approval of two oral antiviral treatments, molnupiravir and a combination of nirmatrelvir and ritonavir (available under the brand name Paxlovid). With the promise to reduce the risk of hospitalisations and deaths, these pills could well help manage the pandemic, but they cannot end it— not alone.

Clinical-trial data shows that molnupiravir, developed by the USbased pharmaceutical firm Merck and biotechnology company Ridgeback Biotherapeutics, cuts the risk of hospitalisation or death by 30-50 per cent. Paxlovid, developed by another pharmaceutical and biotechnology giant Pfizer, cuts the risk by 88 per cent. Since the UK regulators approved molnupiravir in November and Paxlovid in December last year, and the US regulators granted emergency use authorisations (EUA) for both drugs in December, several other countries, struggling to contain rising cases due to the Omicron variant of the novel coronavirus (SARS-COV-2), have followed suit. Since the pills are in short supply, wealthy countries have already locked in huge contracts, as they did with COVID-19 vaccines, and the others are negotiating with the drug makers to manufacture generic versions. The UN Medicines Patent Pool that aims to improve access to medication has freed molnupiravir's patent for lowand middle-income countries.

But there are some who are treading cautiously. Till the third week of January 2022, India had not given approval to the use of Paxlovid. Though an EUA was granted for molnupiravir, it was not made part of the national COVID-19 treatment protocol. Several companies in the country have, however, started making the drug available for anywhere between ₹1,600 and ₹3,000 per course.