Dr. Ram Vishwakarma, Chairman of the Covid Strategy Group, CSIR, said on Wednesday that the Merck drug Molnupiravir, an oral antiviral therapy for the treatment of mild-to-moderate COVID-19, will likely be approved “within days.” Adults who are at risk of developing severe COVID-19 or requiring hospitalization should take the medication. Paxlovid, a Pfizer tablet, may take a little longer, he added.
He believes the two medications will make a difference, and that “when we move from pandemic to endemic, these will be more significant than immunization.”
Drugs are referred to as “I believe Molnupiravir will already be available to us,” he stated, “putting the final nail in the coffin of the virus via science.” The drugmaker is surrounded by five companies… I believe Molnupiravir will be approved any day now “.
According to him, data for Molnupiravir has been “sitting with the regulator” in the United States awaiting permission from the UK regulator. “As a result, SECs are already looking into it. And I believe they will now receive faster approval. As a result, it’s safe to assume that a decision on Merck’s drug approval will be reached within the next month “.
According to a scientific investigation, Pfizer’s Paxlovid reduces the risk of hospitalization or mortality in susceptible adults by 89 percent.
Merck has already signed contracts with five firms, “and in the same way that Merck has provided this license to multiple companies, Pfizer will have to use Indian capacity to produce the pharmaceuticals that are required for worldwide usage.”
He claims that the price will be far cheaper than the 700 dollars that the Merck vaccine is expected to cost in the United States, “since it is expensive in America for other reasons other than the production cost.”
“I believe that when the Indian government steps in, they will buy in bulk from these corporations, and they will have a dual pricing system and a staggered pricing system,” he stated.
