Oral Covid treatment yields promising trial data: drug manufacturers

German pharmaceutical giant Merck and a US partner on Saturday reported promising results in trials of a drug orally administered to combat COVID-19, saying it helps reduce the viral load of patients.

“At a time when there is no need for antiviral treatments for SARS-CoV-2, we are encouraged by this preliminary data,” said Wendy Painter, chief medical officer of the American firm Ridgeback Biotherapeutics.

In January, Merck stopped work on two candidates for COVID vaccine, but investigated two products to treat the disease, including a pill-based name molnupiravir, which it developed with Ridgeback Biotherapeutics.

This drug caused a significant decrease in the viral load of patients after five days of treatment with it, Merck said at a meeting with experts on infectious diseases.

This phase 2a test – drug testing has three phases before a product can be approved – was performed among 202 non-hospitalized people with COVID-19 symptoms.

There was no warning regarding safety, and of four serious side effects reported, none were considered related to the intake of this drug, Ridgeback said.

Anti-viral oral drugs such as oseltamivir (Tamiflu) and zanamivir (Relenza) are sometimes prescribed for seasonal flu, but researchers still need to think of something similar to fight the coronavirus.

The findings of this study – a faster decrease in viral load among individuals with early-stage COVID-19 treated with molnupiravir – are promising, said William Fischer, lead researcher on the study and a professor of medicine at the University of North Carolina, said. .

“If supported by additional studies, it could have important health implications for the public, especially as the SARS-CoV-2 virus continues to spread and develop worldwide,” Fischer said.

Merck is also working on another oral COVID treatment called MK-711.

Preliminary results from clinical trials with it show a reduction of more than 50 percent in the risk of death or breathing problems in patients hospitalized with moderate to severe COVID-19, the company said in January.

© 2021 AFP