It has been determined that an antiviral medicine tested on more than 25,000 immunized Covid patients reduces disease recovery time.
Molnupiravir was administered twice daily at home for five days to those who had the Omicron variant of Covid.
Those selected had a greater risk of death or hospitalization owing to Covid because of their age or underlying health issues.
Although the medicine improved recovery, it did not reduce mortality rates or hospital admissions.
Participants taking the antiviral medication while suffering from Covid were compared to those receiving normal therapy.
Prior studies on molnupiravir showed that it helped lower hospital admissions among patients with mild-to-moderate Covid. The purpose of this experiment was to determine whether or not these findings were supported by this study.
Before the introduction of the Omicron wave, however, these trials were undertaken on uninfected people.
In this most recent study, researchers found that the medication lowered recovery time by approximately four days and also decreased viral load – the degree of infection.
The findings indicate that this medication would not be appropriate for the entire population, but in extreme cases, it might alleviate the burden on the NHS.
Molnupiravir, which is manufactured by Merck, Sharp & Dohme (MSD), is extremely costly; a seven-day course costs approximately £577.
It was the first antiviral medicine investigated in the community as a treatment for Covid, meaning it was administered outside of a medical environment.
Professor of primary care at the Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Sciences Chris Butler states: “The next important frontier in our research response to the ongoing global epidemic is the development of effective, safe, and scalable early therapies for Covid-19 in the community.
“In the community, treatments could have the greatest impact and reach.
“However, decisions regarding whom to treat must always be based on data from rigorous clinical studies including individuals who are likely to be prescribed the drugs.”
To be eligible for the experiment, participants had to be within five days after the onset of symptoms and either healthy and above the age of 50 or between the ages of 18 and 50 with underlying health issues that increased their susceptibility to Covid.
Prof Sir Jonathan Van-Tam, pro-vice-chancellor of the University of Nottingham’s Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences and co-author of the study, is the former deputy chief medical officer for England. He stated: “Initially, it was discovered that molnupiravir reduced hospitalizations in patients with Covid, but these patients were unvaccinated.
“This most recent study replicated the procedure in a highly vaccinated cohort, demonstrating that the vaccine protection is so good that there is no evident benefit to the medicine in terms of further reducing hospitalizations and fatalities.
“However, symptom duration and virus shedding are both much reduced, and we must wait a great deal longer to determine whether there will be visible effects on long Covid.”
The results are published in the journal The Lancet.
