The World Health Organization (WHO)’s international panel of experts advocates the use of Merck molnupiravir antiviral drug in patients who do not have severe Covid-19 but are at greater risk of needing hospitalization. This category is considered to include especially the unvaccinated, the elderly and those with a weakened immune system or chronic diseases.
The WHO committee points out that young and otherwise healthy patients with coronavirus, children, pregnant and lactating women should not take the drug because of its potential side effects. Molnupiravir prevents the coronavirus from multiplying and spreading throughout the body. Used early, as soon as possible after the initial infection, it helps prevent the onset of more severe Covid-19 symptoms.
The new WHO recommendation, published in the British medical journal BMJ, is based on new data from six randomized and controlled clinical trials involving a total of 4,796 patients. These show that molnupiravir reduces the risk of hospitalization (43 fewer hospital admissions per 1,000 high-risk patients) and the time it takes for symptoms to resolve (3.4 fewer days of illness on average), and there is a slight reduction in mortality (six fewer deaths per 1,000 patients).
The recommendation does not apply to patients with severe or critical Covid-19, as there are no clinical trial data in this group. WHO experts also point out the cost and availability problems of molnupiravir.
In the same recommendation the panel of experts also recommends a treatment that combines two monoclonal antibodies (casirivimab and imdevimab) but only in patients who are not infected with the Omicron variant of the coronavirus, as against the latter this “cocktail” is not effective.
The Committee also notes that it continues to recommend the use of Baricitinib, corticosteroids and interleukin-6 inhibitors in patients with severe Covid-19, as well as the use of sotrovimab monoclonal antibody in patients with relatively mild Covid-19. against the use of blood plasma, ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine in Covid-19 patients, regardless of the severity of the disease.
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