Some potentially positive news from Merck, which partnered with a small biotech to develop and trial a drug that targets SARS-CoV-2 — the drug was originally discovered by a non-profit associated with Emory University. The drug, which has the catchy name Molnupiravir, is a chemical relative of the RNA bases that comprise the genome of SARS-CoV-2, and apparently interferes with the process of making new copies of the viral genome. (Details on its mechanism are available if you're curious.)
The drug had been in a phase 3 trial. The details of those are normally blinded until certain endpoints are reached (ie, > some number of patients reach 2 months after treatment or something similar). But they often have interim analysis points, where the data are given to people not involved in the trial to check and see if either the drug is clearly working, or clearly causing problems. In this case, the interim analysis fell on the "clearly working" side. The population were people with mild to moderate COVID-19, but at least one comorbidity that put them at risk of progressing to severe disease.
Of 775 patients who had either taken the drug or placebo, 14% of those on the placebo were either hospitalized or died. In contrast, 7.3% of those receiving the drug did. That includes 8 deaths among those receiving placebo, and none in the treatment group.
Given those results, the trial was halted (standard procedure is to immediately give the placebo group the drug). Merck plans to apply for an Emergency Use Authorization from the FDA as soon as possible.
This is very good news. It's clear that a number of countries have a substantial population that is refusing to get vaccinated, and in the US, this is causing a lot of strain on the hospitals in several states. Anything that lowers the rate of hospitalization will be a big help both to those infected, and to anyone who needs medical care for other reasons.
Beyond that, the whole public health response to this has been to rely on a combination of many layers of imperfect protections. The vaccines are great, but still allow breakthrough infections. But combined with masks and social distancing, the risks become very low. Now, we can apparently add a treatment that limits the impact of any residual breakthrough infections - not perfectly, but again, good enough to lower the overall risk further still. The more things like this we get, the better for society as a whole.
No word yet on whether it's Bill Gates or George Soros that's got microchips in this one...
The drug had been in a phase 3 trial. The details of those are normally blinded until certain endpoints are reached (ie, > some number of patients reach 2 months after treatment or something similar). But they often have interim analysis points, where the data are given to people not involved in the trial to check and see if either the drug is clearly working, or clearly causing problems. In this case, the interim analysis fell on the "clearly working" side. The population were people with mild to moderate COVID-19, but at least one comorbidity that put them at risk of progressing to severe disease.
Of 775 patients who had either taken the drug or placebo, 14% of those on the placebo were either hospitalized or died. In contrast, 7.3% of those receiving the drug did. That includes 8 deaths among those receiving placebo, and none in the treatment group.
Given those results, the trial was halted (standard procedure is to immediately give the placebo group the drug). Merck plans to apply for an Emergency Use Authorization from the FDA as soon as possible.
This is very good news. It's clear that a number of countries have a substantial population that is refusing to get vaccinated, and in the US, this is causing a lot of strain on the hospitals in several states. Anything that lowers the rate of hospitalization will be a big help both to those infected, and to anyone who needs medical care for other reasons.
Beyond that, the whole public health response to this has been to rely on a combination of many layers of imperfect protections. The vaccines are great, but still allow breakthrough infections. But combined with masks and social distancing, the risks become very low. Now, we can apparently add a treatment that limits the impact of any residual breakthrough infections - not perfectly, but again, good enough to lower the overall risk further still. The more things like this we get, the better for society as a whole.
No word yet on whether it's Bill Gates or George Soros that's got microchips in this one...
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