Molnupiravir

In October 2021, Merck released promising study results about an oral antiviral

drug to treat COVID-19. Compared to placebo, the antiviral drug, called

molnupiravir, significantly reduced the risk of hospitalization and death in people

with mild or moderate COVID-19 who were at high risk for severe COVID.

Molnupiravir is under review by the FDA, which is scheduled to meet in late

November to discuss whether the drug should be granted emergency use

authorization (EUA).

The study results were based on data from 775 study participants from the US and

around the world. To be eligible for the study, the participants had to have been

diagnosed with mild-to-moderate COVID-19, have started experiencing symptoms

no more than five days prior to their enrollment in the study, and have at least one

risk factor that put them at increased risk for a poor outcome from COVID-19.

None of the participants were hospitalized at the time they entered the study.

About half of the study participants took the antiviral drug molnupiravir; four

capsules, twice a day, for five days, by mouth. The remaining study participants

took a placebo.
Patients taking molnupiravir were half as likely to be hospitalized or die from

COVID-19 as those taking a placebo. Over the 29-day study period, 28 out of 385,

or 7.3%, of participants who took molnupiravir were hospitalized, and no one in

this group died. In the placebo group, 53 out of 377, or 14.1%, of participants were

hospitalized, including eight participants in this group who died. The antiviral drug

was effective against several COVID variants, including the Delta variant.

The study was randomized, placebo-controlled, and double-blind — the gold

standard in study design. The results were announced in a press release and have

not been peer-reviewed or published in a medical journal. According to the press

release, the risk of adverse events and drug side effects was comparable in the

molnupiravir and placebo groups.

Molnupiravir was developed by Merck and Ridgeback Biotherapeutics. It works by

interfering with the COVID virus’s ability to replicate.