A new anti-viral drug has been shown in early testing to eliminate COVID-19 infections in just a few days, the fastest so far identified.
The drug, molnupiravir, “effectively neutralized infections of SARS-CoV-2 (the virus causing COVID) among a sample group by day three after starting therapy,” Study Finds reports. “Meanwhile, other COVID-19 patients taking a placebo took up to five days to make the same medical progress. For some patients in the control group, their recovery took even longer.”
“Molnupiravir is an oral antiviral prodrug that boasts broad activity against numerous coronaviruses. Prodrugs ‘switch on’ and become active once they enter the body. Importantly, the drug is active against SARS-CoV-2 and its variants, including Delta and Omicron,” the website wrote.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has already approved an emergency use authorization (EAU) request for molnupiravir, which is also in use in other countries, including Japan, Australia and Britain.
The findings came as part of what was called a “MOVe-OUT” trial, which was double blind and randomized, as well as being placebo-controlled. The researchers used PCR tests to measure the viral loads of SARS-CoV-2 in patients, then compared the results of using the drug versus those from patients given placebos.
“This analysis of the final virologic outcome data from MOVe-OUT confirms previous observations demonstrating that a 5-day treatment course of twice-daily 800 mg molnupiravir results in a more rapid decline in viral RNA and faster elimination of infectious virus than placebo,” Dr. Julie Strizki said in a media release. “This study provides additional evidence that molnupiravir helps those infected clear SARS-CoV-2 faster than placebo, and supports MOVe-OUT’s primary finding that molnupiravir can lower the risk of progression to serious illness in this high-risk cohort.”
The study’s findings come as a new subvariant of SARS-CoV-2, this one dubbed BA.2, has taken over as the predominant strain in the U.S., according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
The more contagious subvariant is raging across the U.S., but Dr. Anthony Fauci, an immunologist and director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases who served on former President Donald Trump’s White House Coronavirus Task Force and is now President Joe Biden’s chief medical adviser on COVID-19, doesn’t expect a huge surge in cases.
“The bottom line is we’ll likely see an uptick in cases, as we’ve seen in the European countries, particularly the U.K.,” Fauci said last week on ABC. “Hopefully we won’t see a surge — I don’t think we will.”
Joseph Curl has covered politics for 35 years, including 12 years as White House correspondent, and ran the Drudge Report from 2010 to 2015. Send tips to [email protected] and follow him on Twitter @josephcurl.