Merck COVID Pill Gets First Approval In UK

Molnupiravir, a pill made by Merck, Sharp and Dohme and Ridgeback Biotherapeutics to treat the flu, received approval from the U.K. medicines regulator Thursday to treat COVID. A clinical trial found that the pill cut the risks of COVID-related hospitalizations and deaths by half.

This is the pill's first-ever authorization by a government to treat COVID-19. Merck designed the pill to treat moderate to mild COVID cases. Molnupiravir is the first antiviral pill for COVID that is not a vaccine or an intravenously administered treatment.

U.K. Heath secretary Sajid Javid said in a statement: “I am now working with my teams across government and the NHS so that we can urgently get this treatment to the most vulnerable patients as soon as possible.”

The pill targets enzymes that the COVID virus uses to make copies of itself, introducing errors into the virus’ genetic code which hinders its ability to multiply. Reducing the amount of viral load multiplying in the body should reduce the severity in which people experience the effects of the virus, according to the BBC.

“As an oral therapeutic, molnupiravir offers an important addition to the vaccines and medicines deployed so far to counter the COVID-19 pandemic,” Dr. Dean Y. Li, executive vice president and president at Merck Research Laboratories, said about the pill.

Merck says that it plans to produce 10 million courses of treatment in 2021 and 20 million in 2022. Of that amount, Merck will supply 1.7 million courses of treatment to the U.S. upon approval from the Federal Drug Administration (FDA). There are also plans to supply the U.K. with 480,000 courses of treatment.

As for other countries, Merck is in discussions and will “implement a tiered pricing approach based on World Bank country income criteria to reflect countries’ relative ability to finance their health response to the pandemic.”