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This strategy was a long shot, but a success would have led to an antiviral pill faster than trying to make an entirely new drug. What followed was a brutal wave of failure. Antivirals that worked in petri dishes failed when tested in animals, and those that worked in animals failed in clinical trials.
Even drugs entering clinical trials have often been disappointing. A flu drug called favipiravir showed promising results in early trials, prompting Canada-based Appili Therapeutics to begin a late-stage trial on more than 1,200 volunteers. However, on November 12, the company announced that the pill does not accelerate recovery from illness.
Dr. “Not everything in research is a great success,” Fauci said.
Merck’s new drug, molnupiravir, was studied in 2019 by a nonprofit affiliated with Emory University as a treatment for the Venezuelan equine encephalitis virus – a little-known pathogen feared. a potential bioweapon. When molnupiravir encounters the genes of a virus, it wreaks havoc and causes a series of new mutations. New viruses generally cannot reproduce.
Merck in October announced Preliminary results of the molnupiravir trial: The drug reduced the risk of hospitalization and death by nearly 50 percent. US government keen to lower Covid-19 toll approximately 3.1 million courses of molnupiravir approximately $2.2 billion.
But in the latest analysis of the study, the drug’s effectiveness dropped to 30 percent. At an FDA advisory committee meeting on November 30, experts discussed the drug’s potential to cause mutations not only in viruses but also in people’s own DNA. The committee voted to suggest allows molnupiravire, but only by a small majority. And even committee members who voted in favor of the drug expressed strong reservations given the potential side effects.
Now, Pfizer’s drug will enter the spotlight. Its origins date back nearly two decades, when Pfizer researchers were looking for a drug that could fight the coronavirus that causes SARS. They decided to create a molecule that could block an important viral protein known as a protease. Proteases act like molecular scissors and break long molecules into fragments that help create new viruses.
The drug originally called PF-00835231embedded in the protease like a piece of gum stuck between the blades of scissors. PF-00835231 proved effective against SARS when given intravenously to rats.
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