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進入《TAIPEI TIMES》 Merck says COVID-19 pill halves hospitalization risk
The logo of Merck & Co is pictured at the gate to the company’s campus in Rahway, New Jersey, on July 12, 2018. Photo: Reuters
‘EUREKA MOMENT’: About 7 percent of those who received Merck’s molnupiravir needed inpatient care, compared with 14 percent who received a placebo
/ AFP, WASHINGTON
US drugmaker Merck & Co on Friday said it would seek authorization of its oral drug molnupiravir for COVID-19 after it was shown to reduce the chances of newly infected patients being hospitalized by 50 percent.
A simple antiviral pill to treat COVID-19 has been sought since the start of the pandemic, and Merck’s announcement was hailed as a major step toward that goal.
US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Anthony Fauci told reporters: “The data are impressive.”
Fauci, who is chief medical advisor to US President Joe Biden said that the trial results showed there were no deaths among patients who received the drug compared to eight deaths in the placebo group.
The US has procured 1.7 million courses of molnupiravir should it be approved, with the option to buy more, and global health agency Unitaid said it was working with a partnership called ACT-Accelerator to secure supply for low and middle-income countries.
Until now, COVID-19 therapeutics such as monoclonal antibodies or remdesivir have been administered intravenously.
“It’s very exciting to have more options that are easy to deploy,” said Natalie Dean, a biostatistician at Emory University who specializes in infectious diseases. “You can have something that’s similarly effective, but if one is much easier to use, that’s going to have a bigger population-level impact.”
However, experts also stressed that if approved, the drug would not be a miracle cure and should complement highly effective vaccines, rather than replace them.
In a late stage clinical trial, Merck and its partner Ridgeback Biotherapeutics LP evaluated data from about 770 people — about half of whom received either a five-day course of the pill, while the other received a placebo.
All trial participants had lab-confirmed COVID-19 with symptoms that developed within five days of them being assigned to their respective groups.
Of the trial participants who received molnupiravir, 7.3 percent were hospitalized by day 29, compared with 14.1 percent of those on a placebo — a relative risk reduction of about 50 percent.
Efficacy was said to hold up against SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern, including Delta, and the drug had a good safety profile.
The results were compelling enough that an independent data monitoring committee in consultation with the US authorities decided to halt the trial early, which could indicate that they felt it would be unethical to continue with a placebo arm.
Merck said it plans to submit an application for emergency use authorization in the US and elsewhere as soon as possible based on these findings.
Responses from the medical community were mostly favorable.
Scripps Research Translational Institute director Eric Topol wrote on Twitter that the results “would be considered a Eureka moment in the fight against Covid.”
Molnupiravir belongs to a class of antiviral drugs called polymerase inhibitors, which work by targeting an enzyme that viruses need to copy their genetic material, and introducing mutations that leave them unable to replicate.
新聞來源：TAIPEI TIMES
