A preliminary study shows that molnupiravir, an experimental antiviral drug, significantly reduced infectious virus in COVID-19 patients after five days of treatment.
The drug is being developed by Ridgeback Biotherapeutics and Merck, with the companies sharing the results of the study on Saturday. Tests are underway, and if further results show that the drug can treat COVID-19 patients with symptoms, it could be the first oral antiviral drug to fight the disease. The Wall Street Journal reports.
The preliminary results come from a Phase 2 trial, which studied the effect of different doses in 182 people who first reported COVID-19 symptoms within the previous week, tested positive over the past four days and not in the hospital was not admitted. After five days, contagious viruses could not be detected in volunteers who took molnupiravir twice daily. Among those who received placebos, infectious virus was found in 24 percent of the participants. The study also found that volunteers who took larger doses after three days had lower levels of infectious viruses than those who took the placebo.
Carl Dieffenbach, director of the AIDS division at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told the Magazine the study is “tantalizing and interesting, but it is not exactly 100 percent complete. What we need to confirm is that there is clinical benefit.” To date, remdesivir is the only antiviral drug allowed to be used in COVID-19 patients, according to studies that benefit modest patients in the hospital by shortening their stay.
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