Dr. Marc Siegel says that a new experimental pill developed to treat COVID-19 may be the “Holy Grail of therapy” used against the virus. The first-stage test of Molnupiravir, developed by Merck and Ridgeback Biotherapeutics, showed promising signs of effectiveness in reducing the virus in patients.
The COVID-19 Pill EFFECTIVE IN PRELIMINARY TESTS MAY BE ‘HOLY GRAIL’ FROM PANDEMIC, DR. MARC SIEGEL SAYS
“It’s actually something you can face on the first day,” said Siegel in America’s Newsroom on Monday.
“In the tests, the phase two tests, are showing that it gets rid of the virus completely, so that you cannot see any evidence of the virus,” he added. “So it dramatically reduces the severity of cases.”
The Fox News medical collaborator told Dana Perino that the drug has yet to be tested on larger groups of people.
“What remains is to try on thousands and thousands of people,” said Siegel. “And if it happens and it works, then we will have something we really need.”
“What is really important is that so far it is safe … Of all the drugs that we have tested, it is the first that we see that can really work very, very early,” he said. Siegel added that the drug could be useful “for people who have [coronavirus] even though they are vaccinated, or people who have not yet been vaccinated, or people who cannot be vaccinated. “
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The drug would work as a five-day home treatment, similar to Tamiflu, to prevent the virus from reproducing before causing major damage. That would require a prescription from a doctor, said Siegel.
“Many patients who I think have the flu, I give them Tamiflu,” he said. “If I had patients who thought they had COVID, I would give it to them.”
Fox News’ Angelica Stabile contributed to this report.