Britain is first to approve Merck’s Covid-19 pill molnupiravir
- The country’s drug regulator recommended molnupiravir be used within five days of the onset of symptoms
- Health minister Sajid Javid said the government would set out plans to deploy the drug to patients through a national study as soon as possible
This is the first oral antiviral treatment for Covid-19 to get approved, with the green light coming ahead of potential US regulatory clearance. US advisers will meet this month to vote on whether molnupiravir should be authorised.
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The British government and the country’s National Health Service will confirm how the treatment will be deployed to patients in due course.
Last month, Britain agreed a deal with Merck to secure 480,000 courses of molnupiravir.
In a separate statement, Merck said it was expecting to produce 10 million courses of the treatment by the end of this year, with at least 20 million set to be manufactured in 2022.
“Today is a historic day for our country, as the UK is now the first country in the world to approve an antiviral that can be taken at home for Covid-19,” said Britain’s health secretary, Sajid Javid.
“We are working at pace across the government and with the NHS to set out plans to deploy molnupiravir to patients through a national study as soon as possible,” he said in a statement.
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Doctors said the treatment would be particularly significant for people who do not respond well to vaccination.
Merck announced preliminary results last month showing its drug cut hospitalisation and deaths by half among patients with early Covid-19 symptoms. The results have not yet been peer reviewed or published in a scientific journal.
Molnupiravir was initially studied as a potential flu therapy with funding from the US government. Last year, researchers at Emory University decided to repurpose the drug as a potential Covid-19 treatment. They then licensed the drug to Ridgeback and its partner Merck.
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Last week, Merck agreed to allow other drug makers to make its Covid-19 pill, in a move aimed at helping millions of people in poorer countries get access. The Medicines Patent Pool, a United Nations-backed group, said Merck will not receive royalties under the agreement for as long as the World Health Organization deems Covid-19 to be a global emergency.
But the deal was criticised by some activists for excluding many middle-income countries capable of making millions of treatments, including Brazil and China.
Additional reporting by Associated Press
