AIFA, the Italian drug agency, has authorized the use of molnupiravir, the pill against COVID-19 developed and produced by the pharmaceutical company MSD (Merck). The drug, which has the ability to interfere with the processes that viruses use to replicate within cells, should be used to treat out-of-hospital patients and within five days of the onset of symptoms. The duration of the treatment, which consists of taking 4 tablets twice a day, is 5 days. The pill will be distributed by the commissioner to the regions starting from 4 January.
Last October, MSD announced that the drug reduced the risk of hospitalization and death due to severe forms of COVID-19 in half, if taken within five days of the onset of symptoms. MSD then continued testing and experimentation, ultimately obtaining more disappointing data. The efficacy of molnupiravir was in fact around 30 percent and some doubts about its safety subsequently emerged, to the point of complicating the authorization process of the pill at the FDA, the federal agency that deals with drugs in United States. The FDA cleared the use of molnupiravir on December 23rd.
The drug has been authorized in the United Kingdom, while the drug control authorities in France have decided to reject the authorization request submitted by MSD, considering the relationship between the risks and benefits that its use would bring is unsatisfactory.