The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Thursday authorized Merck & Co's antiviral pill for COVID-19 for certain high-risk adult patients, a day after giving the go-ahead to a similar treatment from Pfizer Inc for high-risk patients above the age of 12.
could be promising tools for those who are sick with COVID-19, especially in the face of the fast-spreading Omicron variant, which is now dominant in the United States.
"As new variants of the virus continue to emerge, it is crucial to expand the country’s arsenal of COVID-19 therapies using emergency use authorization," said Patrizia Cavazzoni, director of the FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research. The drug is not authorized for use in patients younger than 18 because molnupiravir may affect bone and cartilage growth, the FDA said. Pfizer's drug was authorized on Wednesday for people aged 12 and older., was nearly 90% effective in preventing hospitalizations and deaths in patients at high risk of severe illness, according to trial data.The U.S.
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