The Medicines Authority in Britain has approved the first treatment for the symptoms of Covid 19 through tablets.
Patients newly diagnosed with Covid-19 who are most at risk will be given molnupiravir tablets twice daily.
In clinical trials, this drug, which was developed specifically to treat influenza, halved the risks of hospitalization or death.
And British Health Secretary Sajid Javid said this treatment would be a "game changer" for the weakest and most vulnerable immunocompromised.
In a statement, Javid said: "Today is a historic day for our country, as the United Kingdom became the first country in the world to approve an antiviral that can be taken at home to treat Covid."
The first oral treatment
Molnopiravir, developed by Merck, is the first oral antiviral drug for Covid.
family: verdana; font-size: medium;">The drug is designed to insert errors in the genetic code of the virus, which prevents it from spreading in the body. It works by targeting an enzyme that the virus uses to make copies of it.
Merck said that the drug with these properties is supposed to be equally effective with new mutations of the Corona virus as it develops in the future.
The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Authority in Britain also said that the drug was approved for use for people with mild to moderate symptoms of Covid, and who have at least one risk factor, such as obesity, advanced age, diabetes or heart disease, so that their condition does not develop into Serious illness.
John Ryan, CEO of the authority, described the treatment as "another treatment to be added to the arsenal of Covid-19 treatment."
She continued, "It is the world's first approved antiviral for this disease and can be taken orally instead of intravenously. This is important, because it means that it can be given outside the hospital before Covid develops to a serious stage."
The United Kingdom requested the supply of 480,000 doses of the drug by the end of this year.
Clinical trials
And the first clinical trials of the drug molnoperavir on 775 patients who were infected with Covid-19, found:
7.3% of those who took the drug were hospitalized for treatment
Compared to 14.1% of patients who were given a placebo
None of the patients who took molnopiravira died, but eight patients who took the placebo later died of Covid.
The data was published in a press release and has not yet been peer-reviewed. The trial results suggest that molnopiravir must be taken early after symptoms appear in order to have an effect. A previous study of patients already hospitalized with acute COVID-19 was halted after disappointing results.
international approval
Merck is the first company to report the results of trials of tablets to treat Covid, but other companies are working on similar treatments.
And its American competitor, Pfizer, recently started conducting experiments in its last stages on two different antiviral tablets, while the Swiss company Roche is working on a similar drug.
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