It is molnupiravir, developed by the pharmaceutical companies Merck and Biotherapeutic.
The UK health authorities have approved the use of the first antiviral pill against COVID-19. It is molnupiravir, which can be used in patients who have tested positive and who have at least one risk factor for developing a serious disease.
The Medicines Regulatory Agency (MHRA) considered in a statement that the medicine is “Safe and effective in reducing the risk of hospital admission and death in people with mild to moderate covid who suffer extra risk”.
The British Minister of Health, Sayid Javid, highlighted in an intervention on social networks that it is a “historic day” for the United Kingdom, by becoming “First country in the world to approve a take-home antiviral for COVID-19”.
This drug is recommended, for example, for obese people, over 60 and patients with diabetes or heart problems.
The MHRA indicated that the drug should be given immediately after testing positive for COVID or within five days of confirmation of infection.
Regulators’ recommendation is that the pill, originally developed to treat the flu, be taken by these vulnerable people twice a day.
Molnupiravir has been developed by the American pharmaceutical companies Merck and Ridgeback Biotherapeutic, and It is the first drug for the treatment of COVID-19 that can be taken in pill form instead of an injection.
The drug attacks an enzyme that the virus uses to make copies of itself, thus preventing its multiplication and keeping the viral load at low levels in the body, thereby reducing the severity of the disease.
The UK regulator’s CEO, June Raine, called the drug “Another therapy for our armor against COVID-19”, adding that its approval is important because it can be taken outside the hospital setting. EFE and Aurora
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United Kingdom approves the use of the first antiviral pill against COVID-19 – Aurora