What is Anti-COVID pill Molnupiravir? How effective it can be for prevention of COVID-19?

Sun Pharmaceutical Industries announced on Thursday that the pharma giants are set to introduce Merck Sharp Dohme (MSD) and Ridgeback's Molnupiravir under the brand name Molxvir in India. The Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) is currently reviewing the clinical data of Molnupiravir for the treatment of COVID-19 in adults in India. Earlier this year, Sun Pharma had signed a non-exclusive voluntary licensing agreement with MSD to manufacture and supply Molnupiravir in India and to over 100 low-and middle-income countries.

Molnupiravir is the first oral antiviral approved by the UK Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) for the treatment of mild-to-moderate COVID-19 in adults. Sun Pharma's India Business CEO Kirti Ganorkar recently said, "The recent authorisation of Molnupiravir, licensed from MSD and Ridgeback, by the UK regulator is a positive step. In line with our consistent efforts to accelerate access to new drugs for COVID-19 treatment, we are gearing up to make Molxvir available to patients and healthcare providers across India at an economical price post-approval by DCGI.”

How effective can anti-COVID pills be for COVID-19 prevention?

Those adults who are considered to be at risk of getting infected with COVID-19 can take this pill and avoid severe symptoms or even hospitalisation. Health experts have asked people to not consider the anti-COVID pills as an alternative to the COVID-19 vaccines. The pills can be taken by the patient during the early days of COVID-related symptoms. As per the BBC, for the drug to be effective, it is needed to be given to the patient within the first five days of developing symptoms.

It is easier to store Molnupiravir as it does not require cold storage like messenger RNA vaccines. During the Phase 3 trial conducted by Merck, Molnupiravir reduced the risk of hospitalisation or even death by more than 50% while being tested on mild-to-moderate COVID-19 patients in a planned interim analysis of the MOVe-OUT trial. The patients were predominantly non-hospitalised adult patients. The drug also worked consistently across all the major variants of the virus-like Gamma, Delta and Mu. The UK approved the drug to add an extra weapon in their fight against COVID.

(With Inputs from PTI)

Image: Unsplash/ Representative Image