The UK gives the world's first “green light” for a pill against Covid-19

Britain became the first country in the world to approve an antiviral pill against covid-19. The tablet - with the active substance monnupiravir - approved by the UK's medicines regulator, it will be given twice a day to vulnerable patients who have recently been diagnosed with the disease.

In clinical trials, the pill, originally developed jointly by Merck and the Ridgeback Biotherapeutics to treat the flu, cut the risk of hospitalisation or death by about half.

The health secretary, Sajid Javid, said the treatment was a «game changer» for the weakest and most immunosuppressed.

In a statement he said: «Today is a historic day for our country as the UK is now the first country in the world to approve an antiviral drug that can be taken at home for Covid.».

What the ECHA says about molinupiravir 

Vaccination against COVID-19 is the most important weapon to stop the pandemic. However, there is also intense research activity on expanding treatment options for patients with COVID-19.

The doctors of the Therapeutic Clinic of the Medical School of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Theodora Psaltopoulou, Yannis Danasis, Panos Malandrakis and Thanos Dimopoulos (Dean of the University of Athens) summarize the latest data.

Molinupiravir was administered at a dose of 800mg twice daily for 5 days, with treatment starting within 5 days of the onset of symptoms. The approval was based on clinical trial data, which showed that patients with COVID-19 who received this molinupiravir pill had a significantly reduced likelihood of hospitalisation and death. Specifically, non-hospitalized patients with a COVID-19 diagnosis of mild to moderate severity who received molinupiravir had a nearly 50% reduced likelihood of hospitalization or death. Patients had co-morbidities and therefore had a high risk of developing severe COVID-19 disease. In addition, the drug had a good safety profile. Melnupiravir is an antiviral drug and acts by blocking the process of replication and replication of SARS-CoV-2 in the human body. This drug is currently undergoing an accelerated review by the regulatory authorities in the US (FDA) and Europe (EMA).

According to the professors of the University of Athens, this is a very important decision. Experts stress that the treatment in pill form is easily accessible to the general public, easily produced in large quantities and distributed even in low and middle socio-economic countries that may have reduced accessibility to vaccines. It is also important to show to what extent the use of molinupiravir can potentially prevent the transmission of SARS-CoV-2 from sick people to healthy people.