Covid-19: Merck has applied for authorization of its pill against the virus in the United States

A turning point in the fight against the epidemic? The American laboratory Merck announced Monday that it had filed an authorization request with the American authorities for its pill against Covid-19, which could constitute a major advance in the fight against the pandemic. This request concerns Merck’s drug, dubbed Molnupiravir, for the treatment of adult patients with mild to moderate forms of Covid-19 who are at risk of progressing to severe forms and / or hospitalization, the company said in a statement.

At the beginning of October, the American laboratory had already announced apparently promising results of its antiviral Molnupiravir against severe forms of Covid-19. This treatment would halve the severe forms following infection with SARS-CoV-2. What convince the group to quickly request a marketing application in the United States and then in the rest of the world.

The “intermediate” results published a few days ago come from the phase 3 clinical trial carried out on 775 patients with at least one risk factor and divided into two groups: one having received the treatment, the other having absorbed a placebo. 7.3% of patients in the first group were hospitalized or died within 29 days of infection, compared to 14.1% of those in the second group. All tested positive and suffered from “mild to moderate” symptoms.

“It is one of the most anticipated treatments”

“It is a molecule that we know and one of the most anticipated treatments, and these results are encouraging. But with several limitations, for example they are not average patients because they are at risk, ”commented in early October to the Parisian infectious disease specialist Nathan Peiffer-Smadja, head of clinic at Bichat hospital.

The laboratory had specified that these results, which therefore relate to a relatively small sample, were not affected by the type of variant. Clearly, Molnupiravir would work just as well on people infected with the Delta variant as it does on others. Note also that the frequency of side effects was similar in the two groups.