Hexham MP Guy Opperman has praised ‘human ingenuity’ after the UK’s medicines regulator approved the first pill designed to treat symptomatic Covid.
The tablet - molnupiravir - will be given twice a day to vulnerable patients recently diagnosed with the disease.
In clinical trials the pill, originally developed to treat flu, cut the risk of hospitalisation or death by about half.
Molnupiravir, developed by the US drug company Merck (known as MSD in the UK), is the first dedicated oral antiviral medication for Covid.
The pill is designed to introduce errors into the genetic code of the virus, preventing it from spreading in the body.
It works by targeting an enzyme the virus uses to make copies of itself.
Merck have said that should make it equally effective against new variants of the virus as it evolves in the future.
Clinical trials found that 7.3% of those given molnupiravir were hospitalised, compared to 14.1% of patients who were given a placebo or dummy pill. there were no deaths in the molnupiravir group, but eight patients who were given a placebo in the trial later died of Covid.
Pfizer also recently announced their anti-viral treatment cuts hospitalisation rates by 89% in clinical trials.
Guy Opperman MP said:
‘’This is more very promising news in our fight against Covid-19. Alongside vaccines, antivirals will play a vital role in protecting the most vulnerable going forward.
Once again, human ingenuity is helping us combat this pandemic with vaccines, drugs and antivirals all playing their part’’.