Merck Covid antiviral pill did not cut hospitalisation risk, study finds
Merck’s Covid-19 antiviral pill failed to show it can lower the risks of hospitalisation and death among adults at higher risk from the disease, according to the results of a pivotal clinical trial in the UK.
Preliminary results published on Thursday from a trial of more than 25,000 people show taking molnupiravir — a key treatment for Covid — can accelerate a patient’s time to recovery. But the drug showed no benefit compared to taking a placebo in terms of reducing hospitalisations, one of the main measures used by regulatory authorities to recommend antiviral treatments.
Chris Butler, an Oxford university professor of primary care and chief investigator on the trial, stopped short of calling it a failure, but said “there was no difference” between receiving the drug or a placebo in a context of low hospitalisations during the Omicron wave of Covid-19.
This story originally appeared on: Financial Times - Author:Jamie Smyth
