Covid Antiviral Pills: Big Pharma Race is On!

Seasons Greetings, Hivers! Guess who's returned? Yes, I'm back in the mood to write.

A Medicinal Chemist at work; Sourced from Pixabay
Covid Vaccines, I'm sure, are no longer news to us, as they seem to be in the headlines every day. There hasn't been any talk about developing medications that may be used to treat the virus. I felt compelled to share some of the facts I came across while looking for information about antiviral tablets for COVID.

A group of FDA expert advisors recently decided to recommend that Merck's Molnupiravir, which was co-developed with Ridgeback Biotherapeutics, be approved by the agency. If approved, the medicine will be the first official at-home therapy for the virus since the pandemic began wreaking havoc on people's lives and economies.

3D model structure of Molnupiravir; Sourced from Wikipedia

However, the authorization will almost certainly be limited to patients who are at high risk of acquiring serious diseases. According to data given by the pharmaceutical company, in clinical studies on high-risk patients, the medicine reduced hospitalizations and fatalities by around 30%.

Merck stated earlier this month that it had signed a deal with the United Nations-backed Medicine Patent Pool to help expand access to its antiviral drug in underdeveloped countries. Pfizer followed suit and inked a similar agreement for Paxlovid, an antiviral medicine that showed encouraging results in clinical studies, but we're all waiting for the business to reveal the whole dataset. Big Pharma corporations have agreed to receive no royalties from antiviral medicine sales until the WHO declares the pandemic to be over.

The key concern today is what these developments entail for Big Pharma's vaccine profits. The answer is still a mystery! Following Pfizer's announcement that it would seek regulatory approval for its antiviral drug, competitor vaccine makers Biontech and Novavax saw their stock prices plummet, resulting in a market value loss of billions of dollars. Pfizer's stock, on the other hand, rose 10.9 percent the day after the news. This, however, is only the beginning, as much could happen in the months ahead. In my opinion, antiviral medications should be a topic we all keep an eye on in 2022 as they continue to be developed.

Leave your comments in the box below! Would you rather get the immunizations or take antiviral medicines to treat COVID?
Thank you for taking the time to read this.

For more info, check these links out:

• Molnupiravir
• Merck and Ridgeback’s Molnupiravir, an Oral COVID-19 Antiviral Medicine, Receives First Authorization in the World
• The 2 new antiviral Covid pills could be game-changers in the pandemic fight — here’s how