[Epoch Times December 25, 2021](Reported by Jack Phillips, English Epoch Times reporter / compiled by Takasugi) The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved Merck on Thursday (December 23) Emergency use authorization for the company’s (Merck) anti-COVID-19 (Chinese Communist virus) oral medication. Twelve hours ago, the FDA issued a Pfizer (Pfizer) similar anti-COVID-19 (Chinese Communist virus) oral medicine authorization.
Merck’s drug is called Molnupiravir, which was developed in cooperation with Ridgeback Biotherapeutics. The federal drug regulatory agency said that clinical trials in high-risk populations showed that the drug can reduce hospitalization and mortality from 9.7% to 6.8%.
This oral medication is designed to treat adults who are at higher risk of severe illness after being infected with COVID-19 (CCV). It can also be used to treat people with mild to moderate symptoms after being infected with COVID-19 (CCV). Adults, as well as those infected with COVID-19 (Chinese Communist virus) who cannot obtain alternative treatments or are clinically unsuitable for other treatments.
Patrizia Cavazzoni, director of the FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, said in a statement: “As new variants of the virus continue to emerge It is vital to expand the U.S. arsenal of fighting COVID-19 (Chinese Communist virus) through emergency use authorization.”
Cavazzoni also stated in the statement that Thursday’s emergency use authorization “provides an additional treatment option for COVID-19 (Chinese Communist virus) in the form of oral pills”.
On November 30, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s advisory panel recommended the drug by a narrow margin of 13 votes to 10. Some experts are still worried about its effectiveness and safety. The Food and Drug Administration stated that the drug cannot be approved for patients under 18 years of age because Molnupiravir may affect the growth of bones and cartilage.
The Food and Drug Administration said that possible side effects of the drug also include diarrhea, nausea and dizziness. Last month, the agency’s advisory board also expressed concern about whether the drug poses a potential risk to pregnant women and fetuses.
The US Department of Health says that one advantage of Pfizer’s and Merck’s oral medications is that they can be taken at home without the need to go to the clinic or hospital to receive intravenous injections.
Previously, the U.S. federal government agreed to purchase 3.1 million courses of Merck’s antiviral drugs at a price of $2.2 billion. The White House COVID-19 (Chinese Communist virus) response coordinator Jeff Zients (Jeff Zients) told reporters on Wednesday (December 22) that if Molnupiravir is approved for use, most of the drugs can be distributed to states and cities by the end of next month. city.
In addition, according to a press release from the Department of Health and Human Services, the US government purchased 10 million courses of Pfizer’s oral drug Paxlovid for more than $5 billion a few weeks ago.
Before the Food and Drug Administration made the above decision, the only COVID-19 (Chinese Communist virus) antiviral drug authorized by the FDA for emergency use was Remdesivir. The drug is sold under the brand name Vekury.
In recent months, some severely ill patients with COVID-19 (Chinese Communist Party Virus) and their families said that the cheaply produced anti-parasitic drug “Ivermectin” (Ivermectin) has had a positive effect on the treatment of COVID-19 (Chinese Communist virus). Effect.
On December 1, a lawyer for an elderly patient in Illinois stated that he recovered after a court order allowed him to use the drug, but the U.S. Food and Drug Administration did not approve the use of the drug to treat COVID-19. .
At the same time, the French Ministry of Health announced on December 22 that, due to disappointing treatment results, France has cancelled its orders for COVID-19 (Chinese Communist Party virus) oral medicines from Merck and hopes to receive from Medicine ordered by Pfizer.
Merck has not yet responded to The Epoch Times‘ request for comment.
Editor in charge: Li Yuan#
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