Anti-Covid pill likely to get approved in India soon

“The recent authorisation of molnupiravir, licensed from MSD and Ridgeback, by the UK regulator is a positive step. In line with our consistent efforts to accelerate access to new drugs for COVID-19 treatment, we are gearing up to make Molxvir available to patients and healthcare providers across India at an economical price post-approval by DCGI,” Kirti Ganorkar, CEO at Sun Pharma India Business, said in a statement. The USA is also going through the data of molnupiravir.

Adults at risk of Covid can take this pill to avoid symptoms / hospitalisation. Experts did warn that anti-Covid pills are not alternatives to vaccines. The pill can be taken in first few days of Covid symptoms showing.

Molnupiravir - as a small molecule, does not need cold storage like messenger RNA vaccines. In the Phase 3 trial by Merck, Molnupiravir significantly reduced risk of hospitalisation / death by about 50% in a planned interim analysis of MOVe-OUT trial in at risk, non-hospitalised adult patients with mild-to-moderate Covid-19.

Based on participants with available viral sequencing information (around 40% of participants), molnupiravir demonstrated consistent efficacy through variants like Gamma, Delta and Mu.