Health: WHO recommends Merck’s Covid pill for high-risk patients – Gulf Digital News

Health: WHO recommends Merck’s Covid pill for high-risk patients – Gulf Digital News

A World Health Organisation (WHO) panel on Wednesday backed the use of Merck & Co Inc's Covid-19 antiviral pill for high-risk patients.

The expert panel conditionally recommended the pill, molnupiravir, for patients with non-severe disease who are at high risk of hospitalisation, such as the immunocompromised, the unvaccinated, older people and those with chronic diseases.

The recommendation was based on new data from six clinical trials involving 4,796 patients.

Since molnupiravir's US authorisation in December, demand for the pill among COVID-19 patients has taken a hit from comparatively low efficacy and potential safety issues for certain groups.

The WHO panel said it was also preparing recommendations for Pfizer Inc's (PFE.N) rival COVID-19 antiviral pill, Paxlovid.

Pfizer's pill was shown to be nearly 90% effective in preventing Covid-19 hospitalisations and deaths, compared with 30% for molnupiravir.

The recommendations from the WHO's Guideline Development Group (GDG) are aimed at helping doctors provide the best care for patients in fast-moving situations such as the Covid-19 pandemic.

The panel said that young and healthy patients, including children, and pregnant or breastfeeding women should not be given molnupiravir due to potential risks such as defects in a developing foetus, as shown in animal studies.

The WHO guidelines, published in the British Medical