German drugmaker Merck is trying to develop two orally administered drugs to fight Covid-19
German pharmaceutical giant Merck and a U.S. partner reported promising results on Saturday in testing an orally administered drug to combat COVID-19, saying it helps reduce patients’ viral load.
“At a time when there is no need for antiviral treatments against SARS-CoV-2, we are encouraged by this preliminary data,” said Wendy Painter, medical director at the American company Ridgeback Biotherapeutics.
In January, Merck stopped work on two COVID vaccine candidates, but continued to research two products to treat the disease, including a pill-based one called molnupiravir, which it developed with Ridgeback Biotherapeutics.
This drug caused a significant drop in patients’ viral load after five days of treatment with it, Merck said at a meeting with infectious disease experts.
This Phase 2a test – drug tests have three stages before a product can be approved – was carried out among 202 non-hospitalized people with symptoms of COVID-19.
There was no safety alert, and of the four serious adverse events reported, none were considered to be related to the use of this drug, Ridgeback said.
Oral antiviral medications, such as oseltamivir (Tamiflu) and zanamivir (Relenza), are sometimes prescribed for seasonal flu, but researchers have yet to find something similar to fight coronavirus.
The results of this study – a faster decrease in viral load among individuals with early-stage COVID-19 who are treated with molnupiravir – are promising, said William Fischer, the study’s principal investigator and professor of medicine at the University of North Carolina.
“If supported by additional studies, (they) may have important public health implications, particularly as the SARS-CoV-2 virus continues to spread and evolve globally,” added Fischer.
Merck is also working on another COVID oral treatment called MK-711.
Preliminary results of clinical trials with him show a more than 50 percent reduction in the risk of death or breathing problems in patients hospitalized with moderate to severe COVID-19, the company said in January.
Merck Completes Development of Two Potential COVID-19 Vaccines
© 2021 AFP
Quote: Covid oral treatment produces promising test data: drugmakers (2021, March 7) retrieved on March 7, 2021 at https://medicalxpress.com/news/2021-03-oral-covid-treatment-yields-trial .html
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