Denmark approved on Thursday Molnupiravir of Merck & Company Inc. Antiviral pill for COVID-19 patients at risk for serious illness, including the elderly.
The treatment is still under review by the European Medicines Agency (EMA). Faced with rising coronavirus cases, the European Union’s drug regulator issued advisory in November before providing any broad recommendations for its use for adults.
Announcing its approval for restricted use in Denmark, the health authority’s chief medical officer, Kirsten Mol Harbo, said: “We believe that the benefits of the treatment (with this) outweigh the harms for patients who have been diagnosed with severe COVID-19.” There is a danger of becoming seriously ill – 19.”
Britain last month became the first country to approve the treatment, which was jointly developed with Ridgeback Biotherapeutics and for which Merck says it has signed deals totaling more than 7 million courses.
The EMA recommends that patients begin treatment with Merck tablets – branded in the European Union as Legevio – within five days of the first symptoms for adults who do not require oxygen support and are at risk of worsening of their disease. .
Recent trial data showed that the drug only reduced hospitalizations and deaths in high-risk patients by about 30%.
The EU regulator has also begun a review of Pfizer’s rival antiviral tablet Paxlovid, after the company said last month that it had cut the chances of hospitalization or death by 89% for adults at risk of serious infections.
That pill could gain US regulatory approval by the end of this year.
This story has been published without modification in text from a wire agency feed.
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