United Kingodm on November 4, 2021 became the first country in the world to approve a potentially game-changing COVID-19 antiviral pill jointly developed by U.S.-based Merck & Co Inc and Ridgeback Biotherapeutics.
- Britain’s Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) recommended the drug, molnupiravir, for use in people with mild to moderate COVID-19 and at least one risk factor for developing severe illness, such as obesity, older age diabetes, and heart disease.
- The tablet – molnupiravir – will be given twice a day to vulnerable patients recently diagnosed with the disease.
- Molnupiravir is the first antiviral medication for Covid which can be taken as a pill rather than injected or given intravenously.
- The new treatment targets an enzyme that the virus uses to make copies of itself, introducing errors into its genetic code. That should prevent it from multiplying, so keeping virus levels low in the body and reducing the severity of the disease.
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