Christelle D'Sa, Class of 2022
For nearly two years, COVID-19 has been rampaging across the world as many people have been infected with the virus. More recently, less people are being admitted to the hospital due to this virus, partly because of the vaccines that have been created and distributed. People who have received the available COVID-19 vaccines will generally exhibit less severe symptoms as a result of the virus than those who have not been vaccinated. Education about the COVID-19 vaccine has convinced many people to receive it, halting the spread of COVID-19 in the general population. However, in the United States, there is still a sizable number of people who are not vaccinated. While some who receive the vaccine still end up hospitalized, most hospitalizations involve unvaccinated individuals experiencing severe symptoms due to the COVID-19 virus. It is important that these hospitalized people quickly receive treatment. Currently, not many treatment options for COVID-19 exist, but with Merck creating a new COVID-19 pill, these options are slowly expanding.
The Merck COVID-19 treatment, which was recently released to the public, can help treat COVID-19 even after a person has already contracted the virus and is experiencing symptoms. The treatment, called “molnupiravir,” is in the form of an ingestible pill (Connolly 2021). As an antiviral pill, molnupiravir will keep the COVID-19 virus from replicating, reducing the severity of the symptoms brought on by COVID-19 (Connolly 2021). The pill should be taken as early as possible after the onset of symptoms in order to keep the virus levels relatively low in the body, providing the body with additional time to fight back against the COVID-19 virus. These low levels of the COVID-19 virus in the body will reduce the severity of the symptoms that a person may experience. It is possible that this reduction in the severity of experienced symptoms will keep more people from being hospitalized when they are infected with the COVID-19 virus. In fact, Merck has reported that its pill will reduce hospitalizations by about fifty percent (Robbins 2021). Because hospitals will be less overwhelmed by COVID-19 patients, they will be able to provide more care for patients with other diseases. This is especially important during the flu season in the winter months. Molnupiravir’s pill form provides the added benefit that people do not have to be admitted to the hospital to receive this treatment. Instead, people can take these pills at home after receiving a prescription from their doctor.
Although this pill is very useful, it is also very expensive to make. A whole course of treatment, forty pills in total, costs $700 (Robbins 2021). Ideally these pills would be free, as the COVID-19 vaccines currently are, but even then, there are very few pills currently being produced (Robbins 2021). This limited supply of pills means that it is still important for people to get vaccinated and for the population to achieve herd immunity against the COVID-19 virus. It is very unlikely that molnupiravir will be able to replace the need for COVID-19 vaccines in the general population. However, this treatment may benefit those who are in high risk categories for contracting COVID-19, such as the elderly and those who are immunocompromised. Merck is currently seeking Emergency Use Authorization (EPA) for the pill from the Federal Drug Administration (FDA) (Merck 2021).
Another treatment for COVID-19, monoclonal antibodies, requires patients to be admitted to a hospital and receive the treatment through an IV (Connolly 2021). Compared to molnupiravir, monoclonal antibodies are less accessible to the general public, as staying at a hospital requires more time and money. Thus, molnupiravir may benefit the larger population more than monoclonal antibodies because of its easy accessibility.
References
Connolly, W. (2021, November 2). What to know about Merck’s COVID-19 treatment pill. UC Davis Health Newsroom. https://health.ucdavis.edu/health-news/newsroom/what-to-know-about-mercks-covid-19-treatment-pill/2021/11
Merck. (2021, November 9). Merck and Ridgeback announce U.S. government to purchase 1.4 million additional courses of Molnupiravir, an investigational oral antiviral medicine, for the treatment of mild-to-moderate COVID-19 in at risk adults. Merck. https://www.merck.com/news/merck-and-ridgeback-announce-u-s-government-to-purchase-1-4-million-additional-courses-of-molnupiravir-an-investigational-oral-antiviral-medicine-for-the-treatment-of-mild-to-moderate-covid-19-in-a/
Robbins, R. (2021, October 1). What you need to know about Merck’s new COVID treatment pill. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/01/business/merck-covid-pill-molnupiravir.html
Kratochvil, V. (2021). Various Pills [Photograph]. PublicDomainPicture.net. https://www.publicdomainpictures.net/en/view-image.php?image=24316&picture=various-pills
The Merck COVID-19 treatment, which was recently released to the public, can help treat COVID-19 even after a person has already contracted the virus and is experiencing symptoms. The treatment, called “molnupiravir,” is in the form of an ingestible pill (Connolly 2021). As an antiviral pill, molnupiravir will keep the COVID-19 virus from replicating, reducing the severity of the symptoms brought on by COVID-19 (Connolly 2021). The pill should be taken as early as possible after the onset of symptoms in order to keep the virus levels relatively low in the body, providing the body with additional time to fight back against the COVID-19 virus. These low levels of the COVID-19 virus in the body will reduce the severity of the symptoms that a person may experience. It is possible that this reduction in the severity of experienced symptoms will keep more people from being hospitalized when they are infected with the COVID-19 virus. In fact, Merck has reported that its pill will reduce hospitalizations by about fifty percent (Robbins 2021). Because hospitals will be less overwhelmed by COVID-19 patients, they will be able to provide more care for patients with other diseases. This is especially important during the flu season in the winter months. Molnupiravir’s pill form provides the added benefit that people do not have to be admitted to the hospital to receive this treatment. Instead, people can take these pills at home after receiving a prescription from their doctor.
Although this pill is very useful, it is also very expensive to make. A whole course of treatment, forty pills in total, costs $700 (Robbins 2021). Ideally these pills would be free, as the COVID-19 vaccines currently are, but even then, there are very few pills currently being produced (Robbins 2021). This limited supply of pills means that it is still important for people to get vaccinated and for the population to achieve herd immunity against the COVID-19 virus. It is very unlikely that molnupiravir will be able to replace the need for COVID-19 vaccines in the general population. However, this treatment may benefit those who are in high risk categories for contracting COVID-19, such as the elderly and those who are immunocompromised. Merck is currently seeking Emergency Use Authorization (EPA) for the pill from the Federal Drug Administration (FDA) (Merck 2021).
Another treatment for COVID-19, monoclonal antibodies, requires patients to be admitted to a hospital and receive the treatment through an IV (Connolly 2021). Compared to molnupiravir, monoclonal antibodies are less accessible to the general public, as staying at a hospital requires more time and money. Thus, molnupiravir may benefit the larger population more than monoclonal antibodies because of its easy accessibility.
References
Connolly, W. (2021, November 2). What to know about Merck’s COVID-19 treatment pill. UC Davis Health Newsroom. https://health.ucdavis.edu/health-news/newsroom/what-to-know-about-mercks-covid-19-treatment-pill/2021/11
Merck. (2021, November 9). Merck and Ridgeback announce U.S. government to purchase 1.4 million additional courses of Molnupiravir, an investigational oral antiviral medicine, for the treatment of mild-to-moderate COVID-19 in at risk adults. Merck. https://www.merck.com/news/merck-and-ridgeback-announce-u-s-government-to-purchase-1-4-million-additional-courses-of-molnupiravir-an-investigational-oral-antiviral-medicine-for-the-treatment-of-mild-to-moderate-covid-19-in-a/
Robbins, R. (2021, October 1). What you need to know about Merck’s new COVID treatment pill. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/01/business/merck-covid-pill-molnupiravir.html
Kratochvil, V. (2021). Various Pills [Photograph]. PublicDomainPicture.net. https://www.publicdomainpictures.net/en/view-image.php?image=24316&picture=various-pills
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